Children’s Nature Art in Bantry House Gardens 2026

Children’s Nature Art sessions with Sue van Coppenhagen and Shia Tremayne –  2pm to 4pm in the gardens or stableyard of Bantry House, a series of half hour sessions with each artist, including flower pounding and creative adventures with leaves and paint. For 6 to 12 year olds. Free. No booking – turn up and be allocated a place, with activities available while you wait.

Plan a family afternoon out ‘near to nature’ in the gardens of Bantry House. Come to the welcome table to book places for your 6 to 12 years olds in free nature arts sessions with two artists / arts facilitators. As a family, follow a Tree Trail, go on a Moss Hunt, and maybe reward yourselves with something from the tea rooms.

Shia Tremayne leads two contrasting activities. Flowers and leaves are selected and arranged onto pieces of cloth, covered, and bashed with a stone. Noisy, satisfying, requiring some skill and care, and usually providing surprisingly colourful and detailed results. This has been the Festival’s signature children’s nature art activity over the last eight years. The Tree ID disks use quieter observational and drawing skills and can produce a game to take home.

Featuring a wonderful range of leaves, the activities led by Sue van Coppenhagen, explore the properties of wax, water and paint. For younger children, leaves are placed under paper and rubbed with wax crayon to reveal their shapes and vein patterns, or they are dipped in paint and printed. These and other great activities encourage the participants (and parents / accompanying adults in the background) to look more closely at leaves and their features. For older children there may be sponging, spraying, leaf printing and watercolour flow. 

Each artist is running three half hour sessions. 

Flowers and leaf pounding and Tree ID disks sessions with Shia start at 2pm. 2:40pm and 3:20pm for the full age range, 6 to 12 years.

Creative Adventures with Leaves and Paint with Sue has sessions starting at 2pm and 2:40pm for the younger children 6 to 8 years, and a longer session (40 minutes) starting at 3:20pm for the older children 8 to 12 years. 

There are ten places in each session, and each artist works with an assistant, so good attention can be given to all the children. 

The sessions are free, and this year (same as last year) the places will be allocated on the day – come to the welcome table to sign in and pick up your stickers for the timed sessions. 

Access to Bantry House Gardens is free on the day, the tea rooms are open, and there is a self-guided Tree and Shrub Trail leaflet specifically for the Gardens available there that you can do before or after the timed sessions. Pick up the Tree and Shrub Trail at the welcome table. You can also use the self-guided Moss Hunt and native Twelve Tree Trail on a phone or download and printed off beforehand, available here. https://ellenhutchins.com/for-kids/

The sessions are held outside under shelters to protect from sun or rain and toilets are available nearby. 

Wednesday 19th August 2pm to 4pm 

Bantry House gardens. 

This event is a free Ellen Hutchins Festival event and has funding from a Cork County Council Arts Grant, the Bantry Credit Union and the UCC Sustainability Institute.