Outside Art offers diversified, quality and affordable after-school, enrichment  and extra-curricular education options for students.  Outside Art is a “plein air" art program that has provided after-school programming, individual lessons, and workshops for aspiring young artists, ages 5 -15 since 2001. Unlike other after-school art programs,  Outside Art offers instruction from an experienced educator as well as an introduction to art standards, varied media (not just drawing), and discovery-based environmental education.  Outside Art  also offers teacher seminars to prepare schools to meet the Maryland Green School Initiatives, and provide diversified methods for teachers to integrate environmental education into their curricula.

Today, there is an ever-pressing need to connect children to the natural world and art. Children today have limited or nonexistent art instruction in the classroom, even though studies show that artistic activities improve cognitive levels, test scores in academic subjects and behavioral problems in children. In addition, today’s children  spend less time outside than their parents did as children, despite piling evidence that outside activities improve children’s health, focus, productivity, creativity and sense of well-being. Children today can identify a large number of corporate brand names while they can barely name the animals and plant life of their local region. In addition to nature illiteracy, many children experience “eco-phobia,” vitamin D deficiency and nature-deficit disorder as a result of spending too many hours indoors without sunlight, fresh air and open space.  Some studies have even shown that outside activities remedy many of the symptoms and behavioral problems of children with ADD/ADHD. To address these concerning issues, recent national and state education initiatives, such as the No Child Left Inside Act and the Maryland Green Schools Initiative, have sought to improve our children’s environmental literacy.  

Outside Art Lessons also strive to fill these recognized learning gaps and educational initiatives by introducing children to the beauty, wonder and functions of both nature and art through creation, observation and discovery. By embracing this program, your school will better satisfy the state of Maryland’s Green School mandates and be at the forefront of a very valuable movement to improve our children’s understanding of  the environment and our natural world.

 Please call  Dawn Malosh at (410) 212-9320 to discuss how to

incorporate Outside Art’s art and environmental education programming into your after-school, supplemental, Green School Initiatives, enrichment programming, and teacher training.