Through the Seasons Art Project for Primay School children

At Mumbles Hill LNR, Bishops Wood and Caswell Beach.

This interpretative nature and art project aims to achieve an awareness of a local natural environment and its wildlife for school children, through observation and study in an artistic way. The stimulation of natural creativity and imagination through environmental art increases confidence and well-being for participants. The importance of sustaining and preserving the natural places and its wildlife is highlighted, giving the children a lifelong understanding and appreciation of nature. Please scroll down for fully illustrated feature of the project.

Mae'r prosiect natur/celf ddeongliadol hwn yn anelu at greu ymwybyddiaeth ymhlith plant ysgol o'r amgylchedd naturiol a'r bywyd gwyllt lleol trwy wyliadwriaeth ac astudio mewn ffordd gelfyddydol. Mae symbylu creadigrwydd a'r dychymyg trwy gelf amgylcheddol yn cynyddu hyder a lles y cyfranogwyr. Amlygir pwysigrwydd cynnal a chadw lleoedd naturiol a bywyd gwyllt, gan ennyn dealltwriaeth gydol oes ymhlith y plant, yn ogystal â'r gallu i werthfawrogi byd natur.

The project Through the Seasons still continues to inspire Primary School children. As nature has recreated herself through the seasons, more children have had the opportunity to discover and explore their natural world and express themselves in a creative way.

Several new sites have been used for the workshops, in addition to Mumbles Hill Nature Reserve and these include Bishops Wood in Caswell, together with the beach there, Rosehill Quarry and Lower Swansea Valley. The seasons of spring and summer have been a joy to study for the children in these special places.

Wild flowers, such as forget-me-nots, found on Mumbles Hill LNR in April became the inspiration for artworks created by Year 2's from Tre-Uchaf Primary. The willow dome forget-me-not play shelter that they made in their school grounds became a symbol of friendship amongst them, as well as being good fun to make and play in.

Nursery and Reception classes from Welsh school Llwynderw enjoyed doing foundation phase style work at Bishops Wood. They responded beautifully to colour and texture work, colouring their moth puppets with natural pigments from the woods. By the end of the session, these tiny people already knew four different species of moth together with various facts about them. The moth puppets were displayed on sticks that the children found and they enjoyed 'flying' these around in a lovely game. The teachers were amazed at how much the children could actually achieve and how ambidextrous they were. Even at three and four, they understood and showed empathy towards nature and small creatures.

Several classes from Terrace Road Primary visited nearby Rosehill Quarry with their artist, whilst Year 2 of Cwm Primary went to Lower Swansea Valley, close by to their school. It was amazing to find out that a lot of the children from both schools had never visited these nearby natural places. They thoroughly enjoyed finding out about these places and seeing resident wildlife, as well as creating artworks from found and natural materials there. Cwm school were delighted to see that their three dome shelters from bamboo were still standing when they re-visited the valley a few days later with their teacher. All the children enjoyed getting out into the fresh air and doing more creative and hands on work.

Parkland Primary enjoyed working with their two artists firstly at Bishops Wood, where the smell of flowering garlic and the beautiful blanket of bluebells in the glade was a feast for the eyes and nose. The children created a small wooden person with garlic leaf skirt called Mrs. Garlic, together with lots of other imaginative and interesting sculptures in both the woods and the beach. 'Mrs. Garlic' went back to school on the bus with the children. This imaginative work was continued at their school grounds where a variety of sculptures were made, including a large pirate ship in the woodlands, complete with mast and gang plank, as well as crocodiles lurking in the 'forest waters' around the ship. The children very much enjoyed working with the artists saying it was the best school trip they had been on.

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All classes enjoyed their sessions and wanted to know if they could come back again. They enjoyed the artists' attention to detail and how meaningful they made things. Focussing on nature, to use as inspiration and as materials for artworks, is a natural engagement for the children and the artists enjoyed seeing them gain confidence and become interested through it. To hear them exclaim excitedly about making their own colours from plants or ideas about sculptures they will make now from nature, is a special experience and one that the artist never tires of.

The project has provided the opportunity for children to visit natural and coastal places that some of them would not have had the chance to do so otherwise. Priorities in the children's homes seemed to revolve around computers and television, with not many of them regularly using the countryside. However, many of them confirmed that in fact, they much preferred being outside and learning from real life, than being inside, on machines. The contact with the artists was a special time for them, which was different, interesting and refreshing. The improvement in self-esteem, confidence and general happiness, resulting in well being for the children is always evident after our workshops, for both special needs and academically bright children. All races, genders, religions, languages and abilities are included in our workshops, making it a culturally rich project. To hear the children talk in a sensitive way with great empathy about nature and wildlife convinces us that they will make sound lifestyle choices that will help protect and not destroy.