Creating land art is a great way to connect with nature and get your creative juices flowing. You don't have to be a specially trained artist to create land art, it's an activity that folks of all ages and artistic abilities can enjoy. The instructions for making land art are pretty straightforward: collect bits of nature and create an art piece with them. Simple enough, right? There are just a few things you should keep in mind when you're collecting and creating your piece:

• Only gather and use nature that has fallen to the ground. Part of the reason we create this art is to show our appreciation for nature and plucking things while they're still alive and growing is definitely not the way to do that. 
• Leave No Trace applies to land art too. The principles of Leave No Trace don't only apply to collecting trash and staying in designated areas, but also ask us more generally to respect wildlife and leave nature as we found it. Once you are done creating your piece, you can snap a picture of it, but then you should try to return the nature to roughly the same areas you found it. This helps maintain natural systems and won't disrupt other trail visitors (while your art will surely be lovely to look at, many people go out in nature to forget about the human world for a while and might not appreciate seeing traces of your visit). 

When it comes to construction of your art, just remember that land art can be as simple or as complex as you'd like it to be. Some folks like making designs in a particular shape, others like to make their land art look like a particular person or animal, and many people don't decide what they're making until they've gathered up their materials. Making a piece of land art is a great way to get your mind off the stresses of your day and appreciate the beauty of nature. Autumn is a great time to make land art because there are so many things on the ground to use. A lot of the time when we go into nature we look up, but land art encourages us to look down and see the beauty of nature even when it has fallen to the ground.

Land art  is a great activity for the whole family to enjoy. We've done land art projects with a number of our students and they've always really enjoyed creating something special. It's also a great reminder to kids (and all of us!) that not everything is meant to last forever. 

Click on the slideshow below if you're looking for some land art inspiration and if you take a picture of your land art piece we've love to see it!