Nature postcard prints

Take a walk in nature and create beautiful postcards using what you find.

You'll Need

  • Bag or basket
  • 5x8" index cards
  • Tacky glue
  • Tempera paint
  • Paint brush

Time

60 minutes

By Susie McKee
Teacher

Susie McKee is a mom, an artist and an art teacher. She has been teaching for 14 years and loves her current position as the K–5 Art Teacher at Nea Community Learning Center, a public charter school in Alameda, California. Susie is inspired by the art all around us and is always on the look out for new ideas to use in her projects at home and at school.

This activity stimulates observation skills, a key science skill, and nurtures a love of nature. The postcards offer your child a chance to express themselves through writing.

Setup

  1. Take a walk in a park or even in your own backyard.
  2. As you walk, notice things around you, under your feet, and along the path. What colors do you see What animals might live here?
  3. Collect bits of nature as you walk: leaves, seeds, seedpods, flowers, weeds, small sticks, etc.
  4. Back home, place some of the nature treasures that you found onto the blank side of a large index card, arranging them in a pleasing design. Glue everything down with the Tacky glue. 
  5. Hold the objects in place for a minute or two. It may also be helpful to place a book on top of the entire design to flatten it which will make printing easier. This design will become the “plate” that you print from tomorrow.
  6. Let dry overnight.

Assemble & decorate nature postcard prints

  1. When glue has dried, paint on top of your design with tempera paint. You can use one solid color or any combination of colors. Work quickly, so that the paint does not dry before you can make a print.
  2. Place a large index card, blank side down over the painted design and rub gently, holding the card so that it does not wiggle and smear the print.
  3. Carefully lift the card off of the painted card and look at your nature print! This process can be repeated many times, changing the colors and the amount of paint.


Extension Activity:
Once your postcard prints are dry, have your child write quick notes to family and friends.