Materials:

• assortment of art materials such as crayons, markers, paints, construction paper, pipe cleaners, glue, and scissors.
• large piece of white butcher paper

Objectives:

• Children will take a closer look at the environment and their community and explore ways to take care of it.
• Children will cooperatively create a visual representation of their discoveries.

Warm-Up:

How can we keep our earth beautiful? Encourage children to brainstorm ways they can take care of the Earth. Record ideas onto chart paper.

Activity:

1. Explore your community by taking a "nature" walk. (If you live in an urban area, you might want to take a walk to the park, or a walk on your sidewalk).

2. Stop every so often and ask children to be very still. Encourage them to use their senses. What do they hear? Smell? See? Feel? Discuss.

3. As you take your walk, talk about what makes the earth beautiful, or not so beautiful (for example, litter). Record their responses in an observation log.

4. Make a mural about your community. Review the discoveries children made on the nature walk and ask, What would you include on our mural? Make a list.

5. Use the variety of art supplies to illustrate your community on paper.