The Badge Archive

Art Around You

Activity Description: Scouts explore different types of art and design around them, learn about materials and styles, and reflect on what inspires their own creativity.

Info Needed: Artists and designers use different materials (called mediums) to create all kinds of art. Makers may draw, paint, build, sculpt, or even create art on a computer. By exploring the styles and materials they use, we can better understand what creativity looks like around us, and how it can inspire our own art.

Items Needed:

  • Paper
  • Pencils or crayons
  • Printout of VTK’s Style Your Medium (Brownie) or VTK’s Make It with Style (Junior)
  • (Optional) books or printed images showing different art styles

Instructions (Estimated Total Time: 30–35 min):

  1. Discover art around you (5 min)
    • Scouts look around the room or think about art they’ve seen before.
    • Examples include paintings, sculptures, murals, book covers, or decorated everyday items.
  2. Meet the makers (3–5 min)
    • Introduce different types of artists: painters, sculptors, illustrators, designers, digital artists, and more.
    • Explain that makers use creativity to design and build things using many different tools and materials.
  3. Explore mediums (5 min)
    • Share examples using printed visuals or troop materials.
    • 2D mediums: paint, pencil, photography, pastel on paper
    • 3D mediums: clay, wood, metal, found objects used for sculpture or pottery
  4. Compare artwork styles (5–7 min)
    • Choose one option:
      • Style Your Medium (Brownie) Look at three art pieces—one impressionist, one cubist, and one pop art—and compare how they look and what materials were used.
      • Make It with Style (Junior) Look at four art styles—folk art, abstract expressionism, figurative art, and surrealism—and compare how they look and what materials were used.
      • Show examples of two art pieces and discuss: What do they look like? What materials were used? Are they realistic or abstract?
  5. Art scavenger hunt (7–10 min)
    • Scouts explore the room or area safely to find examples of different art and design styles.
    • They can list or draw what they find, such as sculpture, murals, package labels, or book illustrations.
  6. Reflect and share (5 min)
    • Scouts count what they found and talk as a group.
      • What was the most interesting piece of art?
      • What materials and styles did they notice?
      • Would they like to try making something in that style?
Tia Kennard