Make a diorama of a deciduous forest. A diorama is a hands-on way of learning about all the elements of a forest. Start with a box of any size. Cover the outside with plain paper or felt. Re-create a forest scene on the inside. Paint the sky or forest floor. Make trees with actual branches or pieces of cardboard with construction paper leaves. Moss can be added to the forest floor or trees and small animals can be sculpted out of clay.
Show how deciduous trees in a forest change throughout the year by making a four-panel picture. Have the kids fold a large sheet of paper in half and open it up. Fold it the opposite way and open the paper up. This will give them four even sections. Start by drawing a tree in each section. Encourage them to make the trees similar in size, since they are illustrating how one tree changes. Write, "Winter", "Spring", "Summer" and "Fall" in the sections. Ask the kids to use art supplies to color in leaves, animals, weather and the earth, according to the theme of their particular.
This on-going art project examines a particular deciduous tree throughout the school year. Instruct the students to take a photo of the tree in September, then again in October and so on throughout the year. This visual diary can be completed in May or June at school. Each month a photo can be pasted on a piece of paper. Have them write a poem or creative story on the same page to accompany the image. Encourage them to write from an animal's point of view. Let the animal explain the changes that occur in the deciduous forest over the year. Put all of their completed pages in a binder.
This project is a way to incorporate art, science and creative writing in one project.