Nature's Art Box: From t-shirts to twig baskets, 65 cool projects for crafty kids to make with natural materials you can find anywhere - Softcover

Martin, Laura C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580174906 ISBN 13: 9781580174909

Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC, 2003

Synopsis

Take your child’s creativity outside! Laura C. Martin offers 65 art projects that kids can make with materials found right in their backyard. There’s no limit to the imaginative possibilities as children mix paints from colorful flower blossoms, dig clay for molding elf-sized furniture, and craft functional twig baskets. Cultivating a respectful engagement with nature while developing artistic skills, Nature’s Art Box is an inspiring handbook for the next generation of expressive and conscientious stewards of the earth’s resources.

About this title

About the Author:

Laura C. Martin has been writing about nature, crafts, and gardening for 25 years. She has served as garden editor for Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles and Georgia magazines. She is the author of 18 books, most recently The Art and Craft of Pounding Flowers, which was featured on the Discovery Channel. Her lectures and workshops on crafts and gardening delight audiences across the United States.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-8-Martin contends that nature provides us with an abundance of art supplies and she invites readers to make use of these bounties in these 65 projects. She classifies the activities according to the material required: vines, twigs, cones, and moss; gourds, pods, husks, and seeds; clay, stones, sand, and shells; paints, inks, and dyes; flowers and leaves; and stamps, stencils, molds, and seals. Each chapter includes information about historical and ethnic uses for the natural substances. Activities are rated by level of difficulty; all have easy-to-follow instructions. Projects range from baskets, picture frames, wreaths, necklaces, and gift wrap to body paint, amulet bags, and painted stones; from a chess set to shell buttons to an okra pod canoe and people. The projects display a respect for nature and art, and a simple, subtle beauty; they are not the cutesy, stylized projects described in so many contemporary books. Line drawings accompany the numbered steps and charming ink-and-watercolor pictures illustrate the completed projects. Some general crafting techniques are explained. The helpful appendix offers charts on the availability of various materials and their uses and gift suggestions. Bobbe Needham's Ecology Crafts for Kids (Sterling, 1998), which encourages the use of natural craft materials as well as recycled man-made materials, complements this title. Martin's unusual volume will be a great resource for crafters of all ages and abilities.
Lynda Ritterman, Atco Elementary School, Waterford, NJ
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1580174906
• ISBN 13: 9781580174909
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192
• Illustrator: Cain David