The Outdoor Art Explorer badge is a perfect spring badge to explore what inspiration is waiting just outside. This badge also allowed us to look at plants in different ways and find the beauty in weeds!
Below is a list of activities to meet the requirements for the Outdoor Art Explorer badge. Find ideas for more Junior and Brownie badges here.
Outdoor Color Hunt
What better way to gather supplies for all your art, than to go on a hunt! There are many different scavenger hunts available – here’s some I’ve used for outdoors, indoors, and virtual events!
Knowing the available landscaping at our meeting location – or lack there of – I decided to go with a color hunt, focusing on greens and browns. There were not a lot of colorful flowers available anyway, but also the challenge of finding different tones of green or brown would be a fun twist.
I had a large supply of egg cartons available, so I used them as the collection bins. First I looked through my available paints to choose a variety of colors. Then I painted a small amount in each egg space. Each girl got an egg carton and was challenged to find different items in nature that matched the colors.
An alternative method to the egg carton is getting paint swatches from a local hardware store.
Make Something!
My troop chose to make bookmarks with the leaves and flowers they collected. These made really cute keepsakes for the girls themselves or to give to a friend.
I ordered these lamination pouches that are bookmark size. The girls placed their leaves and flowers in the pouch to be laminated, and then we punched the hole for the tassel. I purchased a variety of colorful tassels to loop through the hole.
I challenged the girls to make some different designs, mix plant pieces and sizes, and not be afraid to use weeds!
From Outdoor to Indoor… or at least “In Jar”
Our last major activity for this badge was to make terrariums. The girls made their own choices for how to assemble it and decorate it.
Provided supplies:
- Mason Jars
- Moss
- Rocks
- Dirt
- Eraser Critters
Start with a small layer of rocks, then add dirt and moss. Then, add decoration items likes clear beads or gems, or animal figures. Adding a cute critter to the terrarium is a fun touch to personalize it. The girls also chose to add a few leaves or flowers they found in the scavenger hunt to their jar.
Finishing the Badge
There are a few more requirements for this badge, like photography and music, that are difficult to fit into a single meeting (at least for me!).
In an earlier troop meeting we covered digital photography and the girls worked outside on photos. We chose not to repeat those activities for this badge.
Lastly, making music about the outdoors could be some simple songs or a complicated project. You can make rain sticks or musical instruments, but we were limited in materials and time. If your girls are into singing while they work, that is an easy way to cover this requirement!
