Play Explore Create Challenge

An invitation to Play, Explore and Create with Nature

I wish to share positivity, love and hope as we navigate our way through this unknown phenomena - here is a very simple, beautiful way to celebrate our inter-connectedness - our love, our joy, our hope, our relationship with each other and our relationship with the natural world. Not only does it give the artist immense joy during the creative process, when we share our nature art - we gift more joy to others - heart to heart soul to soul.

Social distancing doesn't mean we have to distance ourselves from nature - nature is a powerful medicine and it's FREE!  

Time in nature is therapeutic so too is being creative and when you combine both nature and art you receive a very powerful dose of natural medicine. Please note this PDF was created back in January before the Pandemic so when going outdoors please practice social distancing. If you are in lockdown and unable to get outdoors - let us play, explore create indoors. For those of you who can get outdoors - please be mindful and follow the correct protocal where you live - stay away from crowds and keep your social distancing.

Sharing our Nature Art gifts Joy - Heart to Heart

PDF HERE

Please note this PDF was created back in January before the Pandemic so when going outdoors please practice social distancing. If you are in lockdown and unable to get outdoors - let us play, explore create indoors. For those of you who can get outdoors - please be mindful and follow the correct protocal where you live - stay away from crowds and keep your social distancing.

Below is a beautiful sharing from Charlotte Allchin and her children - deeply moved by these beautiful creations - I so love daisies - pure, innocent love - thank you Charlotte.xx

I invite you to share nature art, nature stories, love and compassion...remembering our “Humanness”

Join us in play, explore create - both indoors and outdoors.

Download your FREE PDF here

Creative Nature Play Indoors

Nature doesn't have to be put on hold during this very strange and bewildering time - we can be playful and creative with nature indoors - we can and we must continue to nurture the child’s mind, body, heart and spirit.

We know that nature is therapeutic, so too is being creative - so when we combine both nature and art, the children receive a double dose of powerful natural medicine. 

In light of COVID-19, I am creating a short series of playful nature based art activities children can do indoors

In this first episode we go on a bug hunt indoors.

Watch Welcome - Intro Video

Click on the free PDF below to access how to listen to the storybook narrated by Hamish Clark and how to go about creating your very own nature bug hunt adventure.

CLICK HERE: FREE PDF

“Now more than ever, we need to practice using imaginative hope to think seriously about how to create a healthier, nature-rich, more equitable civilization in the years to come.” - Richard Louv

We need nature in our lives more than ever!

Let’s Go on a Bug Hunt Indoors!

Aiko - Beloved Child

Today I am working on completing my PDF for the Play and Create Outdoors Project which you are all invited to participate in.

Nature Nurtures Creativity

The project is all about getting children back into nature where their curiosity and imaginations can flourish. Today I was that child, playing underneath the ponderosa pine. I gathered a few pine cones, clay and some wool and created little Aiko. 

We are part of nature

The Japanese meaning of Aiko is beloved child - I felt this was the perfect name for this beautiful soul. Aiko is one of the little characters I am using to help promote the Play and Create Outdoor Project. 

Aiko - beloved child

I wanted to capture the innocence of a child, the purity, the love, the joy - I think I have captured that with Aiko

I hope to have the PDF ready to download early next week and hope you will all join in the fun of getting children back outdoors into the natural world.

We are all beautiful, unique, highly creative beings full of love - I just love how different we all are and yet part of one big family!

Daisy by Elise with Aiko

Here is one of my students beautiful creations - Daisy by Elise hanging out with Aiko - what adevntures will they get up to this weekend outdoors in nature? Our Lets go Play, Explore and Create Outdoors Project invites you to share your creative outdoor adventures with Daisy and Aiko - can’t wait to share the project with you next week.

Nature makes us Happier, Healthier and more Creative

Until then, wishing you all a beautiful weekend, know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

NATURE PLAY FOR ADULTS TOO

I love the process of being curious. I am constantly exploring possibilities, looking at new ways to create through playful nature art. Some weeks ago I was sharing Kandinsky's wonderful artwork - circles within a circle - a starting point for some really cool creative exploration using circles and colours as our focus.

I love how one art form can lead you into another and then another and soon you are swept away on a most magical - soulful creative journey - gifting immense joy along the way.

I couldn't resist making a few little Kandinsky inspied aliens and planets for myself...I made several different sized willow wreaths then covered them in tissue paper - so much fun taking them outdoors to play with in the trees and long grasses. I think I will be inviting my adult students to have some fun with this too - seriously - are we allowed to have this much fun!!! Love love love my work, feeling really blessed

Happy Tuesday beautiful people - wishing you a happy, playful - creative week ahead, love Marghanita x

Creature in Hand - Curiosity and Compassion

We have had so much fun learning about the solar system through playful nature art these last few weeks.  I decided to share Kandinsky's wonderful  colour study using Concentric Circles - a circle within a circle as an example - inspiration - a starting point for our very own exploration of colour and circles in nature which led us beautifully to our solar system investigation.

Elise had an amazing time making her rocket from recycled materials and decorating it with a Kandinsky inspired cone roof . Her aliens, made from fallen branches and clay - were thrilled to be transported from one planet to another.

Yesterday, Elise was about to fill one of the paint lids with more paint when a little insect landed on it. We had just finished talking about how much the lid looked like the planet earth. The bug decided to take a walk around the lid - this made Elise giggle. 

As she observed the insect, the biggest smile grew across her face - "look Marghanita, he's walking around planet earth' - the insect proceeded to walk another lap around the earth, then another - "maybe he would like to visit another planet too" Elise said excitedly and ran off in the direction of the trees.

Creature in Hand

Elise returned with a small leaf, a remnant from Autumn - this could be its space rocket she declared and gently, very gently placed the bug onto the leaf and whisked him off to the chalk planet she had designed earlier, on one of the tree stumps seating. The insect crawled off the leaf and onto the planet - he seemed very happy indeed, so too did Elise. 

Curiosity, love and compassion

Elise was captivated and calmed by the energy of this sacred moment with the insect. A moment of wonder and awe. A moment of pure joy.

Time in nature is a magical time - a time of mystery and excitement, of questioning, sharing stories, learning and growing and forming deeper, meaningful relationships.

We Protect What We Love

Love and respect for the natural world can only happen when we make time to nurture our relationship with nature. As adults, we have a responsibility to help nurture the sacred relationship between the child and Mother Earth.

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”

- Rachel carson

Join our online program and community at Educating the Heart

Reconnecting the Child’s Heart to Mother Earth’s Heart

The Importance of Play

Be the change you wish to see in the world

“The world has changed and we are in danger of leaving our great great grandchildren no hope. We have almost destroyed childhood, we have almost destroyed nature . We have created technology that dilutes the reality of war both through watching bombing on TV and bombing and killing in computer games. Neutralising our senses and allowing us to believe that refugees are either terrorists or scroungers. 

Growing up is now a pressure point on children - achieving not discovering - and the outcome becomes clearer and clearer - three year olds self harming - obesity becoming the norm - social interaction being eroded - and reading to children disappearing. 
We have to reverse this - some of us are trying...” - Tom Shea

I have known Tom Shea for several years now and had the privilege of spending a playful time with Tom and other like-minded souls during Play Iceland last year. Play Iceland is an organic entity increasingly committed to bringing together excellence in practice, knowledge and the passion to want to grow a movement that will test and challenge the absurdity of putting children into education at a younger and younger age. 

Tom is an extraordinary man with a great vision. He is one of those beautiful authentic souls who’s compassion for all life is evident in everything he does. He is a constant inspiration and what I love most abut Tom is his ability to imagine anything is possible and takes action to make the impossible - possible. I too am a dreamer and a firm believer that anything is possible and I truly believe we can and we must take action to make the world a better place for our children, grandchildren and our beautiful ever-gving planet earth .

Be the change you wish to see in the world

Please take time to watch and reflect on this short film Tom Shea commissioned to help raise awareness of the Importnace of Play.

Played from Lastwood Media on Vimeo.

Beautiful film work by David Hughes

Join us

My Early Childhood Education

PLAY EXPLORE CREATE

I got to play all day, every day. Sometime I played with my teachers but most of the time I played with my brothers and friends. We made up our own games and solved our own problems and built many different structures out of old scraps of wood, ladders, tires -anything that was available.

Creativity blooms in the soil of freedom

Here I share a short excerpt from my early childhood education - click here:

My Early Childhood Education

What we experience as a child establishes deep rooted connections that influence our development and what we might become

So our “early childhood education” built and formed loving relationships that have lasted throughout our lifetime. An unconditional Love - a deep love for ourselves and each other; for the natural world and all its inhabitants; And a love of the Arts.

My early childhood education set me up for life. That strong foundation helped me navigate through the hardships and difficulties I faced later both in school and growing up through the stages in life. Nature and the arts are part of me - how could they not. Today nature and the arts play a fundamental role in my work with both children and adults and the way in which I live my life.

Today I am still that child - playful, curious, full of love and wonder and a passion to share what it means to be human

Preciousness of Make Believe - The Magic Oak Leaf

Fantasy play is enchanting and natural and good for the child's developing brain - it's also oodles of fun at any age!

Keeping the enchantment of childhood alive

The Magic of Nature Play

The outdoors invites us to play, explore and create - a stick can morph into a wizards wand, an oak leaf - a bedding cover for a fairy, an acorn cap - a hat for a little being. Fantasy play is magical at any age.

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”

When I was young we had a magic carpet that transported us to far off lands, today my little “being of the land” - Piero has discovered a magic Oak Leaf that allows him to fly across the ocean and as far away as the moon and back. Isn't it adorable!

Lost Words and Lost Imaginations

It really saddened me to read about the word "Acorn" being removed from one of the children's dictionaries - how incredibly sad to think many children nowadays don’t get opportunities to get to know the mighty oak and all its treasure. Childhood and all it’s magic is precious and sacred, so too is our language; our heritage and our trees. What could be more sacred than the life that gifts us the fresh air we need to survive and home to so many of our little nature friends. The acorn is food for so many birds and creatures. And the little caps - well as you can see make the most adorable hats for little land beings and such like!

We Protect What We Love

Children need time to play in nature, to imagine and create and go on magical adventures. Through this creative nature play they discover more about themselves and their environment and over time a beautiful, loving relationship is formed between the child and Mother Earth.

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” 

My love for our children and the natural world will keep me forever creating and sharing for their relationship is vital for our health and wellbeing, for our happiness, our Mother Earth’s happiness and for our future existence.

Connecting the child's heart to Mother Earth's Heart

Make nature play a part of your day- every day!

Play Explore Create

With love and gratitude Marghanita x

A Feast for the Senses - Kandinsky Inspired Nature Art

This week during our Nature Art Therapy sessions we were looking at circles in nature and I decided to share Kandinsky's wonderful  colour study using Concentric Circles - a circle within a circle. I love to share other Artists work with my students both children and adults. Sharing the Artists work as an example - inspiration - a starting point for our very own exploration of colour and circles.

I rummaged around the house, searching for circular recycled materials I could let Elise play with and also offered her a handful of silver birch and apple wood tree discs (tree cookies - we slice whatever fallen branches are available).

Elise played with the different circles, making towers, exploring which circles could be placed within another. She rolled the circles and spun the circles. We began our art explorations first with water colour inks. Elise used varying sized glass jar lids and the sellotape disc to trace around and then free hand to create the smaller inner circles. The water coloured inks bled into one another creating a new colour. The paint brush moved easily across the smooth paper.

“The spirit, like the body, can be strengthened and developed by frequent exercise. Just as the body, if neglected, grows weaker and finally impotent, so the spirit perishes if untended” - Kandinsky

Nurturing the whole child - body mind heart and spirit

It was bitterly cold but the weather doesn't stop us from having our sessions outdoors. Elise wears gloves while she paints and we take breaks to run around in the forest to warm us up. A bald eagle lands on one of the trees below, near the lake - (hard to spot with the snowy hills) another sacred gift we are grateful for that day.

Elise discovers many circles as she plays among the trees. She made a circle using the carpet of pine needles as her canvas. She declared it was a pond and proceeded to place pincecone fish into the pond for the eagle to feed on.

We return to explore the texture of the tree circles. Some of the discs are smoother than others, some feel very rough. Elise decides the smooth side will be better to paint on.

Textures

Elsie decides to use the inks again. She has to press on her paint brush harder and use more ink as it soaks into the wood - this surface is very different to the paper.

An invitation to share stories

I love exploring different ways of how to tell stories through nature art. Storytelling is part of what makes us human. We are all storytellers and children, along with our Mother Earth are the best storytellers of all.

After the tree discs had dried I invited Elsie to use her Kandinsky inspired wooden circles to create a story. Providing a blank sheet of paper, Elise played with her circles, moving them around the paper, imagining what they could be. What circles are in nature?

We talked about Spring and she remembered the hungry caterpillar story and formed her colourful caterpillar across the page using her circles. She penciled in a head and antenna. WOW - So many circles in one little insect!

She then told me flowers have circles and drew some flowers, a ladybug and a beautiful glowing circular sunshine. She then adds to her story by telling me her caterpillar changes into a butterfly and she adds colourful wings - how magical! 

“That is beautiful which is produced by the inner need, which springs from the soul” Kandinsky

Of-course whats so beautiful about this art activity is it's open-ended - Elise can remove her tree discs and create a brand new canvas, a brand new story or simply play, explore and create anything she so wishes - the possibilities are infinite!

Used candle holders offered more playful - creative exploration with colour and circles. This time I offered acrylic paint along with the other paints for her to explore - which paint would stay on the metal circles?

PLAY EXPLORE CREATE

I also found another wonderful circular item to recycle which I will share soon - I so love exploring new ideas and experimenting with new materials with my students - witnessing their abundant joy from playful, creative explorations - their souls being nurtured.

Play Explore Create

Wishing you all a playful and creative week, with love and gratitude Marghanita x

If you would like to learn more about our online Nature Art Program for Educators that features activities like this one, click here:

NATURE ART ONLINE PROGRAM

Learning with the seasons - Snow, Ice and Polar Bears

During our one to one Nature Art Therapy sessions we take inspiration from the natural world and what interests Elise, exploring her interests through a variety of art mediums and different materials. We are learning through our senses as we explore and investigate the changing seasons. Our senses allow us to grow, to feel, and to enjoy the world. By witnessing the changes in the seasons we can reflect on our own personal changes that we have to encounter.

Snow Play

Playful Nature Art helps develop Elise's unique perspective and individual style of creative expression. Snow provides a brand new canvas to play with, to explore and create enchanting art like Elise’s adorable duck sculpture using snow balls. 

We explored, shapes, colour, textures using snow and earth paint. We love to use earth paint, its safe and eco friendly.

An engaged imagination - Elise shared stories both orally and through simple drawings with a stick in the snow.

Playful Nature Art helps to calm her body and mind and nourish her heart and soul.

During our nature art sessions Elise draws on the power of her amazing imagination. It is important that Elsie has the independence and control in the creative process.

Today we learned that polar bears live in the Arctic and unlike the Black Bears here in the Okanagan, BC who hibernate, Polar Bears do not. Another wonderful example of how bears can be similar and yet they are different too. just like we are. 

Outdoors Elise chalked out a polar bear keyline using familiar shapes onto black paper.

She then ripped up pieces of white paper placing them within the chalk keyline. Once she was happy with her polar bear she added Winters blue skies using chalk pastels.

Later Elise made an igloo for her clay polar bear (she had made earlier in the day) and her little friend penguin who lives in Antarctica which led to more storytelling both orally and through illustration.

She continues to learn and grow through her creative journey, learning more about herself our differences and the beautiful natural world we share. Through her creative explorations she is discovering her own art style and how unique she is and how unique her art is.

Art teaches us how to Live

“Lead you students towards nature, into nature; let them learn by experience how a bud is formed; how a tree grows; how a butterfly opens its wings, so that they will become as rich as variable; as capricious as nature herself.” - Paul Klee

Nature Art - Exploring Ice Formations

Earlier in the week I was captivated by the enchanting ice formations down at the lake-shore. I felt compelled to return to investigate more deeply when I had more time to play.

Today the sun was shinning and I knew the ice would be melting - this was an opportunity to play and experiment with the ice before it trickled back into the lakeshore.

Still bitterly cold, I wrapped up, put on my gloves and grabbed my pastels, camera and a white piece of card along with my newest little companion - another “little being of the land” that I made for my mother, for her birthday.

I have become quite attached to this little being - maybe because she reminds me so much of my mother, how peaceful she looks.

Loving, Playful, Gentle and Wise

My mother is playful, warm and loving, gentle and wise, still full of wonder and curiosity. She lives by the sea and loves the music and poetry of the wild Scottish waters. I feel so fortunate to have parents who shared the joy, excitement, and mystery of the natural world with me and my brothers while we were growing up.

I will have to post the little being off to mother back in Scotland soon, in order to catch her birthday

The lake is calm, a soft breeze makes the refection of the sky come alive and I am spell bound by the movement and light of the water.

I love how the frozen water envelopes the rock, creating magical and enchanting forms to investigate. Each one unique in its creation, stiring excitement in my soul. The ever-changing light invites a dance with the natural sculptures - creating new images.

What do we see - what do we feel ?

Nature Art in its Purest Organic Form

- these natural Ice Sculptures are so inspiring

Inspiring me to play, explore and create. I place a piece of card under the ice structure, trying not to break any piece off as I move the card around. I use pastels as they flow easily in and around the curvaceous form of the frozen water.

The lake water laps gently in and out below the transparent ice sculpture, creating the most magical sensation. I remove my gloves and lose myself completely in the flow of creating. The cold air nips at my bare hands but I continue, the joy is so intense I cannot stop.

I continue to play with the ice and the pastels, the sunshine makes everything sparkle and my little land being sits peacefully watching, cocooned in her shell.

The turquoise pastel dances across the paper, flowing to the rhythm of the water, melting ice droplets splash gently across the paper and I smudge and merge the pastels. The colours matching my little beings woollen outfit - how magical!

I almost feel as if I am sharing this enquiry with my mother, I feel her spirit present - I do so miss her, living on the other side of the world!

So grateful to my mother, for her unconditional love, she has always supported everything I have ever done, without question. Today, surrounded by the elements, as I play, explore, and create down at the lake, I feel my my mothers love and it seeps into my creations. How sacred and precious our love is.

Love love love

My playful investigations with the ice has gifted me so many soulful learning ideas that I can share with my students. I wish to offer my students both young and old inspiration, an invitation to explore and investigate for themselves. What will you experience when you go in search of Ice Formations? I know for certain - it will be a joy-filled experience!

Nature Play is a Pathway to Health and Happiness for all ages, anywhere, anytime

Play, Explore, Create!

Wishing you all a fun week with Nature Play!

Remember we are running a special Nature Play Weekend for Adults in March 2020 - Throughout our Health and Wellness Weekend we will help you awaken your natural curiosity, childlike wonder, and enthusiasm. Creating little "earthy" beings is just one of the many magical activities we will explore during our days immersed in the wilderness of the organic Olive Farm- You can view the details here:

SPRING NATURE ART WEEKEND

Know you are deeply loved, peace and gratitude Marghanita x

Play Iceland - My Reflections

Play Iceland - A Feast for the Senses

From breath-taking volcanic landscapes to sharing playful experiences with children, and adults, in magical and enchanting locations.Everyone had several opportunities to observe the Icelandic approach to education, and I personally was excited by a visit to a school that is an integrated preschool and elementary school for children ages 1- 9 years old. We shared stories, passions and beliefs, withnew friends and kindred spirits. So many sensory engagements throughout the journey - we got to touch and feel the sacred land, smell and taste organic- earthy creations inspired from Icelandic nature, presented by a beautiful family brimming with creativity. We got to feast on fresh traditional Icelandic food and be deeply moved by soulful music performed by local musicians.

And not forgetting several sightings of trolls on route!

CLICK HERE TO READ PDF

Health and Wellness Nature Art Weekend

THE DATES FOR THIS WEEKEND HAVE CHANGED

Health and Wellness Nature Art Weekend 2020 will now be held in Autumn

Reconnecting Our Hearts to Mother Earths Heart

Are you ready to grow and discover more about yourself and the beautiful, nurturing world around you?

If your answer is yes, then you will love this transforming weekend

A weekend of Healing and Connection - Autumn is a time to harvest and an invitation to celebrate our interconnectedness. This weekend is all about love and respect, loving ourselves, loving each other, loving life, loving and respecting our Mother Earth.

What better way to celebrate our deep rooted connection with our Mother Earth than through soulful nature based activities that awaken and nurture our heart, mind, body and spirit.

A weekend of transformation – wild and free you will experience the wonder, love and beauty of this sacred land through creative exploration. Like the butterfly, we are always at a certain stage in our life activities.

Are you experiencing a sense of disconnection with the natural world? Do you feel uninspired and lacking motivation?

Would you like to feel happier, healthier and more creative?

If your answer is yes, then this weekend is for you.

This unique weekend is for anyone wishing to live a happier, healthier and more creative life. Our Nature Art Weekend, set in the stunning wilderness of a beautiful and enchanting organic olive farm in San Diego, California - offers a rest from technology. 

Nature invites us to play, explore, create. We are here to love and be loved, to nurture, to create - When we create from the heart and soul the love flows like a river. During this weekend I wish to share the love and help your creativity flow like a river.

Here is the PDF for you to learn more about our nurturing weekend:  CLICK HERE

Spaces are limited REGISTER TODAY

Full Weekend Price - $649

The full weekend price includes:

• accomodation for 2 nights (Friday and Saturday) in a beautiful country home

• all meals throughout the weekend

• all art materials and coaching over the 3 days

• free access to all 12 modules - Urban Nature Art Online Program ($189)

Day Ticket Price - $149 This is a day pass to your choice of day.

Spaces are limited REGISTER TODAY

We hope you will join us in early Spring - helping to make the world a better place, with love and gratitude Marghanita and Jeanene xx

We are here to Love and be Loved

We are here to love and be loved, to nurture, to create - know you are deeply loved. When we create from the heart and soul the love flows like a river - Can you feel the love... know you are deeply loved.

I made this little offering for a very special girl - the little girl loves music so I made her a little baby who loves to listen to the sound of the sea - the shell is from my trip to New Zealand where I spent a lot of time enjoying the wild poetry and music of the sea - the shell seemed the perfect fit.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting Wednesday, May your week be filled with love and creative adventures with our Mother Earth - with love Marghanita x

Some Trees Fall Down

Elise used her foot to move the pine needles, then crouched down and used her hands to complete a circle and declared it was the vets garden. She then proceeded to collect pinecones and place them in the circle. Elise told me excitedly, that the garden has lots of trees. The pinecones would sometimes stick to her woolly gloves. One of her pinecone trees fell down, then another. 

"Thats okay, she said, sometimes trees fall down when the wind is strong".

Last week we had been learning about wind, we had so much fun down at the lake testing out what items from nature could be carried by the wind. Elise kept finding feathers which proved by far the best fliers along with leaves.

The wind was strong today and bitterly cold but Elise didn't feel the cold. She was too busy playing, creating her garden underneath the Ponderosa tree that had gifted so much treasure to play with. Pinecones, pine needles, seeds, fallen branches - "loose parts" as some would call them - I call them treasure (gifts from Mother Earth).

As I sit back and watch her play I am reminded of Froebel’s quote:

" play as the highest expression of human development in childhood; the free expression of what is in a child’s soul" 

What a blessing it is to witness this joy-filled play. Our nature art therapy sessions are filled with so many magical, sacred moments.

The wind blows again and another tree falls down. “ Would you like to help me put some trees in the garden Marghanita?”

How could one resist such an exciting invitation to play!

If you would like to learn more about our Nature Art Programs for both children and adults, take a moment to view the website or contact me direct. We would love you to join us at Educating the Heart with Nature Art.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting weekend, with love Marghanita x

The Three Wise Men - Leaf Art

What fun it is to play with nature. Being creative with treasure gifted by our Mother Earth is something I have done since I was a child. The creative process, the journey - gifts me immense joy. Our lives are so busy and fast and scheduled, making time to be creative with nature allows us to slow down and experience joy and restore our sacred relationship with the natural world.

Yesterday I was playing with leaves I had pressed.. Here is one of my wise men - “Hidden in a Leaf” - Mixed media fun for my Urban Nature Art Program for Adults. Module 11 (One Single Tree)

A single leaf has many magical and enchanting stories to share.

I invite you to play with the treasure gifted from our Mother Earth. Why not join us on this beautiful, soulful journey of creative exploration - we would love you to join us at Educating the Heart.

Wishing you all a magical and enchanting Tuesday, know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

The Joys of Learning Outdoors

Today, in our one to one nature art therapy session we were gifted the presence of the deer (they pass our way every day but not too often when Elise is here for a session). Elise was super excited the deer had returned.

Observing

What fun observing the deer. We observe how gentle and quiet the deer are. We observe their shadows and how hungry they are. The first deer leaps gracefully over the fence back into the forest while the 3 other deer decide to go under the fence. We can climb over the fence and under it too.

In our one to one nature art therapy sessions Elise plays a lot. Play shouldn't stop when a child reaches school age. I believe play is important for our mental health and well-being not just in childhood but for all ages, ADULTS included!!!

Playing outdoors in nature helps nurture the "whole child" - body, mind and spirit. Through creative nature play Elise learns more about herself and her connection with the natural world. As she plays, her young mind and body get a workout. She is being physically active hunting for treasure. She's running, flying, jumping, leaping like the deer, the squirrels and the birds who have become her friends. She now knows the pine needles and pinecones are prickly and has figured out how to pick them up without being spiked. Elise has discovered the pinecones are also tricky to walk and run on.

Her soul too, is nourished through her creative play, her imagination takes her on adventures and you can see the joy in her eyes and feel her happiness as her face beams with smiles as she creates her unique art. 

During our last session Elise began her paper-mache deer. This is a really messy activity with lots of glue, water and paint. A wonderful multi- sensory experience and great for learning about the shape and form of an animal. It's all about the process. Paper mache work is a slow and meditative process which is really lovely to do outdoors. Temperatures may have been bitterly low, yet spirits were high.

Elise loves the tearing and scrunching up the paper, she noted it made a funny noise. She used both her fingers and the brush to pat down the dry tissue paper onto the wet sculpture. She talked and giggled as she added layers on top of layers, noticing the newspaper was disappearing.. We left the deer sculpture to dry. Later, Elise paints the deer and adds details such as ears and antlers from natural materials she found in the forest.

Process over product

It's all about the process, the creative exploration is what gifts us the most joy. Sadly, in toadys mainstream primary and elementary schools, very little time is allocated to allow children to express themselves creatively through nature play, and yet the benefits are huge!

Over the course of the year I have noticed Elise's memory is better - she remembers that she saw 5 deer on her last visit and only 4 deer today. Having sketched the deer and created a sculpture, she now knows how to recognise the differences in the deer - the fawn, doe and buck all look similar but have slight differences.

She could notice the difference when she got to observe the peaceful deer today - such a blessing. Elise also noticed which deer was missing today - "the one with the antlers" she declares and places her hands on the top of her head with her fingers fanned out.

After adding the antlers to her buck, Elise announces we can all be friends - "come - I want to show you something", and she heads off to the fairy den, holding her new friend in her hand - then onto the pine needle eagle (land art) she made a few weeks ago. "Quick the eagle wants to eat us again Marghanita" and off we leap like deer and escape the grasp of the large eagle once more - oh the beauty and magic of imagination - what joy!

The arts offer students more in depth learning about things that really matter - like a sense of wonder; creativity, love and respect;, relationships; how things are connected, resilience, truth and beauty; mindfulness and conservation to name but a few. Let us make sure as we move forward into a new year that we provide plenty of opportunity for children of all ages to experience the arts and the great outdoors.

Full of gratitude to be able to share the joys of learning in the great outdoors with my students. Such a beautiful and sacred journey it is, feeling truly blessed. Wishing you all a magical and enchanting week with our Mother Earth. Know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

We have several NATURE ART WEEKENDS scheduled for Spring 2020 for Adults. Or you could sign up for one of the online Nature Art Programs we offer that you can join at anytime of the year. If you would like to receive our SPRING/SUMMER 2020 Nature Art WEEKENDS PDF please leave a message below or email me, I would love you to join us at Educating the Heart with Nature Art....with love and gratitude Marghanita x 

The Land and How it Shapes Us

The Land and how it shapes us

Working on Module 10 has been an amazing journey so far. Yesterday I created a piece of mixed media art depicting two of my longest and deepest connections (sacred relationships) with the natural world, trees and the deer. What a joy filled experience - It is all about the process, the journey. I allowed my imagination to carry me to the places where I am wild and free.

Ever since I was small, the trees, the birdsong, the graceful deer of the forest have spoken to my soul. Playing with the clay, shaping it into the deer, I lose myself in the process. The creative journey, finding little pieces of treasure to make into ears, a tale and antlers. Deer hold a special place in my heart - they are forever present in my life, both here in BC where I live now and back in my homeland - Scotland.

My clay deer is a spirit stag, white and mysterious. The deer remind me of spirit, purity, peace and gentleness - to be gentle to others and to ourselves.

“We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

– Pierre de Chardin

Then there are the trees - oh how I love trees - I have never felt separate from nature. Climbing up into the welcoming arms of the paper-like bark of a Silver Birch in our back garden is probably my earliest recollection of the powerful “connection” I had with nature as a young child. The majestic tree gifted me freedom—the higher I climbed, the freer I became. Up high, was a place of beauty and wonder, where my imagination soared.. My love and respect for trees has grown deeper throughout my adult life; some of my best friends are trees. I so desperately wished to use silver birch for this piece of artwork but I did not have any to hand so I used these beautiful Aspen branches as an alternative.

The golden leaves of the Aspen are very similar in shape and colour to the silver birch in the Autumn - however the bark is nowhere as delicate as the paper-like bark of the birch but it has its own unique beauty like all of us. Sacred and beautiful. What experiences with the natural world touched you deeply as a child ? In our Urban Nature Art Program we delve deeper into our relationship with the natural world through creative expression. You can learn more here: URBAN NATURE ART FOR ADULTS

Oh What Joy

"Once upon a time ...there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated." - Terry Tempest Williams

Urban Nature Art - Celebrating with Nature

I love birds, their song, their beauty, their flight and so I created a simple bird shape to savour the Autumnal colours just a little bit longer - using the colourful leaves as feathers for my bird sun catcher, I now have a beautiful reminder of magical moments spent outdoors playing with the leaves, listening to the bird song with my students both young and old. If you are venturing into Spring, then maybe a few colourful spring flowers and leaves could be used! Giving thanks to each flower and leaf gifted.

Every time I look at the bird it makes me smile, remembering these sacred, joy-filled moments, my heart fills up with love and gratitude. Feeling truly blessed. Wishing you all a beautiful and enchanting week ahead. Happy Autumn to all my friends in the northern hemisphere and Happy Spring to those of you in the southern hemisphere - may the birds sing with you today and every day, know you are deeply loved, Marghanita x

Want to live a more joyful - creative life? Why not join our community at Educating the Heart with Nature Art. When we combine nature and art we receive a double dose of very powerful natural medicine. Check out our Urban Nature Art Program/Modules.

Are you an educator looking for ways to help connect your students to nature? Are you beginning a new term at School - why not infuse nature art into your curriculum. Our Nature Art Program for Educators is full of creative explorations that help nurture the whole student, body, mind, heart and spirit. Details of both programs can be found here: http://www.educatingheartnatureart.com