Easy seasonal tree art with Nana is a perfect way to celebrate the four seasons or add to your next tree nature study! This year round seasonal tree study for your homeschool includes Spring, summer, fall, and winter all in a mix of chalk pastel and acrylic paintings. These lessons are perfect for kids and adults alike. So, sit back, and let Nana guide you through the four seasons with trees.
Do you and your children ever take a moment to just listen to the wind in the trees?
It’s such a soothing sound to me.
We have some sixty acres of woods behind our home and when the wind comes down from the mountains and through those trees it sounds almost like the crashing waves that you hear along the shore. The sound has come to mean home to my children and me. Those woods are filled with deciduous maples, tulip poplars, flowering dogwoods, redbuds, and sycamores. You will also find evergreens such as white pine, and loblolly pines, among others.
Nature Study In Your Homeschool
We love exploring in the woods whether it’s quietly observing a red-tailed hawk hunting among the canopy, a bunny nibbling on the fresh spring clover, or the discovery of brilliant colors in the fall. Even the quiet of falling snow brings joy and a cozy feeling in the crisp winter air.
We always feel closer to creation surrounded by nature and experiencing the glory of each season.
Spring Tree Study for Kids
We discovered this month that we could explore the seasons from the comfort of our kitchen table with Nana’s tree art lessons! There is a lesson for each of the four seasons.
For the gorgeous spring lesson, all you need is a starter set of chalk pastels, your You ARE An Artist Clubhouse Membership and a pack of construction paper!
If you’ve already got your membership, then you’ll notice that this flowering tree is also part of Nana’s Spring Art Celebration with Chalk Pastels! It is such a perfect welcome to the new life that spring brings. Bursting with flowers and color along with a beautiful reflection in the water.
My daughter even added a Mother and Father bird tending to their nest. Just another sign of creativity and new life.
Summer Tree Lesson For Your Homeschool
For the next three seasonal tree homeschool art lessons you’ll want to pull out your acrylic paints!
Oh, yes! Have you heard? Nana has acrylic art lessons!
All you really need for the summer tree lesson is a small cheap set of student acrylic paint (just primary colors plus white will do too), a few student brushes, and a 9×12 canvas. But you can use any size canvas you have OR even paper! Don’t feel like you need to go out and buy a whole lot of expensive supplies. Remember, so long as you have your primary colors you can create all the other colors you need! Yellow plus blue makes green! Did you know that equal amounts of red, blue, and yellow make a lovely medium brown? Want a darker brown? Add more blue! Want a more opaque brown? Add white.
This can be a really fun and educational adventure in color mixing!
My daughter thought her summer season needed a pony with flowers in it’s mane. Let your kiddos be creative! Their artistic talents will shine through when you let go of the reigns and let them explore their creativity.
Fall Tree Nature Study for Kids
With adding this fall tree lesson to our nature study, we got to mix colors to make more brown AND different shades of orange!
My son was so proud of his seasonal tree art leaves and background!
My daughter started out following Nana’s lesson but just couldn’t get over the brown reflective water. I told her most ponds and rivers are browner in reality. But that didn’t stop her from painting over the whole fall scene and re-creating her own scene of icy blue water that contained a narwhal and magical koi fish!
Remember, let your children explore their creativity! Even if it involves a narwhal!
Winter Tree Art Lessons For Kids
Our last seasonal tree art was the winter tree. This is supposed to be the same tree as the spring tree. It sits on the edge of a reflective pond or pool of water and is covered with fallen snow.
Why yes, my daughter did add the wedding of the moon fairy and the winter fairy to her painting! She is obsessed with fairies and fairy gardens.
Did you notice the two smaller fairies in the snow-covered tree and the reflection of the full moon? I can just feel the quiet of the freshly fallen snow!
Make Art Part of Your Next Nature Observation
A bonus for members to accompany all of Nana’s nature art lessons.
Here is an educational resource and companion to the I Drew It Then I Knew It Series and nature art lessons. This is a handy resource to accompany Nana’s nature art lessons and is a complement to your nature curriculum.
The Nature Observation Printable includes:
- Observation and Investigation
- Research Ideas
- Observation Recording Area
- Notes Section
Only available with You ARE an ARTiST Clubhouse membership, it is downloadable and printable.
Easy Tree Art for Kids
These seasonal tree art lessons are a perfect complement to a seasonal nature study. I also found them to be quite soothing and lovely for this mom. Remember, moms enjoy art too. Plus, when kids see mom enjoying art, they want to emulate her activities. Although, your children’s creativity will lead them down their own artistic paths that may include fairies, koi fish, narwhals, and all. Embrace the imagination and originality of it all!
Erin is a writer, blogger, and homeschooler to two intense kids. Her blog is filled with information to help you explore a child led education while making meaningful connections with your children. Discover favorite read alouds, seasonal books, games, art projects, hands-on activities, and learn to just breathe through the ups and downs of life. She loves nature, farm life, good books, knitting, new pens, and hot coffee. Erin is a contributing writer for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Her work has also been featured on Simple Homeschool and Book Shark.