Searching for Art in the forest: An examination of how nature inspires children’s creativity.

This study aimed to examine how school-aged children’s experiences with outdoor, play-based, inquiry-based, and artful pedagogies shaped their creative outcomes. The benefits of being outdoors and engaging with the arts are commonly overlooked. Researchers argue that teaching drama, particularly in natural settings, offers more opportunities to move freely, engage in fantasy play, interact with the natural world, and utilize natural materials for creative artful pieces. There is a lack of research and resources for teachers on providing Nature-Based art experiences within the school setting. In combination with this lack of resources, educators face high demands in academic subjects and scheduling constraints, which ultimately result in a lack of confidence to take their students outdoors for Nature-Based art experiences. This study explored the following research questions: "How does nature, especially outdoor and artistic play, influence children’s creativity and creative outcomes?" and "How can the insights from this study help empower teachers and boost their confidence in teaching creativity outdoors?" Findings indicate that the outdoor environment provides children with increased inspiration, materials, and space for their creative endeavours. Further, when educators transition to constructivist, play-based pedagogies, especially while teaching outdoors, children naturally incorporate explicitly taught curriculum concepts and engage with the arts through their use of the art elements. Implications for educator practice are outlined in the attached educator resource, which includes recommendations for both pre-service and in-service educators to feel empowered and prepared to teach the arts through outdoor, alternative pedagogies.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Faculty of Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Brock University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Detta, Lindsay

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Somma, Monique

• Outdoor Learning
• Forest School
• Arts
• Interdisciplinary

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10464/19563

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/19563