Location: indoor or outdoor

Materials: found materials (sticks, leaves, rocks, flowers, etc.)

Not all art needs to last forever. Take Andy Goldsworthy's natural art-- many of his pieces are just temporary (an ice sculpture that melts once the sun rises, a line of wool that eventually blows away, a stone tower that gets knocked over by a rising tide).

If you've noticed your children love collecting natural materials, this is the perfect creative project for them to return to again and again and again.

You can start out by introducing Andy Goldsworthy as an artist. There are many great clips from the movie Rivers and Tides available on YouTube. Show your children a few minutes as an introduction to the idea of using natural materials to create temporary art.

Then, when you're outside invite your children to create their own art projects. These art projects can change as the seasons change. And because they are meant to be temporary, you can take a picture to capture the final product and then leave it outside.