The first edition of Children Need Nature, a monthly message from our Nature Preschool. Read more posts here.

Photography as Art

A Nature Preschool Exploration

With the advent of the Frost exhibit here at the Schuylkill Center, we have been delving deeper into art.    In particular, we are exploring the many ways that art can be expressed – through sculpture, painting, print, fabric, and even photography.  We visited the exhibit as a group and looked in particular at the photographs.  The children were able to describe the photos and express the emotions they felt when looking at them.  They ran the gamut from happy, to sad, to angry to cold.  We talked about how different people can find different things when looking at a work of art.

Later, we went outside and gave the children the opportunity to take their own photographs.  Naturally they took dozens.  We printed them out to show the class.  Then we were able to explore how artists create many pieces that may not make it to the gallery.  They have to pick the one that means the most to them.  Nature Preschoolers were eager to select one photo they had taken that expressed something they wanted to share with the world.  It is wonderful to see how they are able to connect emotion to their photos.  Hooray for our budding photographers.

This photo is of a green leaf. All the other colors are brown and dry. Looking at this makes me feel good and happy because spring is coming at last.

This is sawdust on the ground. Looking at this makes me happy. The sawdust smells good and I know I can go on the trails again. Mr. Mark and Mr. Sean made them safe for us.

This is my feet in the mud. It makes me happy to see this picture because mud is fun. Some people might feel ‘yuck!’ but I don’t mind being dirty. Mommy just washes me.

In this picture Jackie is walking towards the tree with lots of my friends in it. It makes me feel happy because it looks like they are going to have fun and I want my friends to have fun. Other people will be happy too because kids should play a lot.

This is snow. Snow is cold. I took this picture to make people happy. They can imagine playing in snow – like building a snowman!

I took a picture of a plant just growing new. When I smell them they smell like dirt and good. It makes me happy because things are growing.

These are two pictures. One is of the lichen on the log. It is white and cold like the snow. It reminds you of winter. The second one is of the new moss. It makes you feel mossy and soft. It reminds you of growing things because it is green like the spring. Winter is leaving and spring is coming.

Winter – lichen on a log.

This is my friend. Seeing people that I love makes me happy and I think that other people will be happy to see it because she is smiling and in nature which is a good thing.

This is a fence that is in the forest. It makes me feel happy and other people will be happy too because they will know they are safe.