4-H organizes lesson in paints, plants

On Tuesday, Crenshaw County’s 4-H brought children together to learn about nature and the world around them through art.

Alongside Charlotte Petre, 4-H Youth Development Coordinator, children learned more about watercolor, exposure paper and the different species of plants around Crenshaw County.

“They need to learn about what is around them, how it impacts their daily lives and how it could negatively impact them if things become out of balance,” Petre said. “We often find ourselves having to fight against things like invasive species, whether it’s a plant or an animal, so it’s important to know what should be there and the problems with some of these invasive species. Using art is just a fun way to get that conversation going.”

The main event of the day involved using exposure paper to create images of leaves using the sun. With exposure paper, or sunprint paper, blue dye in the paper fades as it is left in the sun, while the covered area remains blue.

With this paper, the children made sun prints of different plants of the surrounding area, including sweetgum leaves, sycamore leaves and pine needles. After the event, children were allowed to bring their prints back home with them.

“It seems like they’re learning a lot and having a good time, and it’s very well organized and planned,” said Carol Leah Hatfield, the mother of one of the children in attendance. “So it’s a very good event.”

While the children were waiting on their sunprints, they were encouraged to use the watercolor paints, bug stamps, and scratch-off art available to them.

Additionally, once their prints were complete, children could add to their prints with the bug stamps or color in the print with their watercolors.

“They tried a lot of different new art techniques,” Petre said. “We did some chemistry, we learned some things about our natural environment, and we just got to be creative and play in a place where they could freely express themselves.”

Crenshaw County 4-H has more events planned, including activities revolving around STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) topics. For more information, please Crenshaw County Alabama 4-H on social media.

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