At Outdoor School İstanbul, most of what children create lives in the moment and does not travel home in art folders. Chalk washes away with the rain, mud sculptures crumble back into the soil, water drawings vanish under the sun, and loose-parts constructions are taken apart to be rebuilt again the next day. This is art that we cannot touch, keep, or even see for long and yet it is still art.
What remains is not the object, but the experience: the thinking, the movement, the collaboration, and the joy of creating. These experiences stay with children, shaping how they explore, express themselves, and make meaning of the world around them.
Alongside paper, crayons, paint, and other familiar materials, we place strong value on lived, hands-on experiences outdoors. In an outdoor environment, nature itself also becomes an art material, and the garden becomes an open canvas where children draw, write, design, and experiment in meaningful ways. Marks made in the soil, symbols drawn with sticks, signs created for shared projects, and conversations around these creations all support the development of early literacy in ways that feel purposeful and connected to real life.
Children continue creating because the process invites them back again and again. What matters is not always the final product, but the act of making, revising, and imagining. By moving beyond a single medium and offering a wide range of materials, children are able to explore ideas, test possibilities, and express themselves in diverse ways.
This approach goes hand in hand with project-based learning. Children’s art becomes part of ongoing projects in the garden, where they create together and build things the whole school can use; compost, seed library, shelters, installations, and shared spaces. They may not take their work home in a folder, but they take pride in seeing it live on in the garden and in the school community, becoming part of something larger.
Tuğçe Kasap Bilaloğlu