Taking Art Outside

On a brisk autumn morning, the second graders bundled up in their jackets and instead of heading to the art room for art class, they headed outside! The second graders were invited to observe some of the hundreds of trees that we have here on campus which comprise our very own Abington Friends Arboretum.

After selecting a tree to investigate further, the second graders settled in with their chalk and oil pastels to begin an observational drawing. By practicing their observational drawing skills, students are able to look closely and carefully at the world around them, noticing and appreciating the unique characteristics about the things that they are observing. These skills help students to be mindful in their work and their ability to notice unique details translates to work they do in science class, in their writing and in all facets of their education.

As the second grade artists used oil pastels to create outlines for their drawings and then added color using chalk pastels, they noticed the difference between the two materials and appreciated the clean hard lines of the oil pastel and the ability to blend colors and create vibrant textures with the chalk pastels. 



The second graders did beautiful work on their drawings and their final step was to record the arboretum tree tag number on their trees, so that soon they will be able to learn more information about their trees and upload their drawings to the Abington Friends Arboretum website! http://abingtonfriendsarboretum.org/