No. 18 Create some wild art

Using fir cones and conkers to make a collage | © National Trust Images/Jennie Woodcock

When it comes to creating wild art, the only limit is your imagination. What will you use, and how? There's so much to choose from in the natural world – but make sure you're not making your art from another creature's home. Create some wild art is no. 18 of the ‘50 things to do before you’re 11¾’.

Creating wild art

Creating wild art is no. 18 of our ‘50 things to do before you’re 11¾’ activities. It's a great way to make you think a little differently about nature. You could perhaps try and find things that vary in colour and texture so that you have even more choice and can pull together something really wild.

What you could use

There's simply too much to list here, so this is just to get you started:

Leaves
Twigs
Feathers
Seeds
Pine cones
Grasses or flowers
Pebbles
Mud
Glue
String or wool

Butterfly wild art and Fontmell and Melbury Downs, Dorset — Butterfly wild art and Fontmell and Melbury Downs | © National Trust/Clive Whitbourn

How many dimensions?

You could make a flat piece of art, or something like a sculpture, but you'll probably need somewhere dry to work out of the weather. If you are making a sculpture, then are you designing it to be seen from all sides, or do you just want people to look at the front/sides/back of it?

Obviously, you're going to need lots more materials if you're going to make something really big, so try and think about the size of your finished artwork too.

The rules

The rules are that there are no rules. Yes, you did read that right: there are no rules (apart from not taking anything from nature that already makes a home for an animal). So, you can use your imagination to create whatever you like from whatever you like, which is one reason why making wild art is so brilliant.