Outdoor Art Creator Badge- Brownie Girl Scouts

Last year, my 3rd grade Girl Scout troop did a variety of art projects. One of the badges we earned was the Outdoor Art Creator Badge. Here are some of the activities we did to earn the badge. I thought I would share with you, because these are some fun projects you could do with a group of kids, maybe in an after school, day camp or scout program. Here is a link to the PDF guide for the badge, but what I like about Girl Scouts is that it gives you the freedom to change up activities and steps, as long as you keep it in the “spirit” and intentions of the badge.

• We went on a nature scavenger hunt, gathering interesting things on the ground that we could use in our artworks.

• Leaf Rubbings and Leaf Drawings- Place a piece of paper on top of the leaf and rub with the side of a crayon to reveal the textures. This is a classic leaf activity. Next, we looked at the leaves and drew them from observation. After each girl did these, we cut them out and glued them to a poster board. Then, glitter and extra doodles were added for embellishment.

• Painted Stick Wall Hanging- We used sticks gathered from my yard to make these beautiful wall hangings. First, I had a bunch of chipboard bases. These were chipboard covers for altered board books. They have holes in them to be used for binder rings, but they are perfect to put ribbon through and hang up as a wall hanging. I got them from a crafting store that was not doing classes anymore, so they had lots of fun supplies for super cheap. So, first we painted the chipboard base. Then, they painted sticks with acrylic craft paints. (Affiliate links have been used at no extra cost to you.) We let them dry until the next meeting. At the next meeting, they glued the sticks on with Tacky Glue. While the glue was still drying, they placed decorative washi tape on the sticks. This was to hold them in place, but also for added decoration. The girls also used paint markers for drawing extra designs. My favorite type of paint markers are Posca paint markers, but you can find cheaper ones at your local craft store. You just want them to say acrylic paint pens.

• The last “outdoor art creator” project we did was to paint birdhouses and glue on embellishments. We painted with acrylic paints and used tacky glue to glue on the natural items (such as rocks, twigs, leaves) we found on our nature walks. We also had extra embellishments to glue on.

If you liked this post, you may enjoy these other leaf art ideas and templates.