Zines (short for magazines) are handmade mini-books produced at home with minimal materials. They have historically been used by marginalized groups and counter-cultures to disseminate information widely and cheaply, often information that traditional print media aren’t willing to publish. Zines are still being used today as a powerful tool to share one's voice without limitations.
Although the beauty of zines is that they can be about anything, the broad categories that most zines fall into are:
- How-To Guides
- Autobiographical / Self-Expression
- Activism / Spread Awareness
True to the nature of zines, they don’t have to be confined to the walls of art class. I like to use zines in outdoor learning because of how accessible and adaptable they are. Personally, I try to carry as few materials as I can when in the field with students, so zines are the perfect art activity that uses materials I am usually already carrying. Also, because zines can be about anything, I can easily adapt a zine lesson to whichever concept or theme that I’m exploring with my students.
If you have never taught a zine lesson to students, I have a few tips for doing so in the field:
Tips:
Adjust your level of scaffolding to the age group. Elementary school students will need more guidance than teens, for example.
- For younger students, consider printing out zine templates ahead of time that provide prompts for each page of the zine. You can find examples online or make your own.
- Comics, or telling a short story, are also an easy way to prompt younger students to engage with zines.
Provide prompts that relate to a theme or concept your group is learning.
- For example, if your group has been exploring the theme of “Water,” a prompt could be, “What is your favorite memory with water?” or “How can humans positively impact our watersheds?”
Consider providing an audience for your students’ zines.
- Your students can make their zine as a gift or a letter for a loved one, or for your next group of students, to increase buy-in.
- Choosing an audience is also a great way to get your students to create activism-centered zines. Have your group brainstorm and choose an audience instead of deciding for them!
Provide physical examples from previous students or online zine libraries. One or two zines are a very light and small contribution to your field backpack.
- When possible, have examples from children the same age as your students so they don't feel pressured to create art at the same level as adults.
More artistically inclined students will take more time on their zines than their counterparts, so prepare an alternate activity for those students who finish early.
- Encourage them to add embellishments or color, or offer a follow-up activity. Or they can collaborate with a partner and make another zine!
Cultivate a culture of error- art is about the process rather than the outcome!
- Make a zine alongside your students to model having a good attitude about art and have fun together.
- Have your students share their zines with partners or small groups, and encourage students to give compliments and positive feedback to each other.
- When looking at your students’ art, avoid generic phrases like, “That’s great!” and instead give specific compliments that highlight their artistic choices and effort, such as, “I like your use of the color blue here,” or, “I can tell how much time you spent on shading that leaf!” Also, try to ask questions that dive deeper into how and why they made certain artistic choices, such as, “I wonder how you made your trees look that way. Can you show me?”
Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box! Further zine possibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Collaging with leaves from the ground,
- Coloring your zines with pigment you make from the plants or fungi around you,
- Using a zine as a nature journal to draw, make observations, and record wonderings,
- Using a zine as a diary to reflect on what they learned or experienced in outdoor school,
- Tracing leaves or rubbing tree bark on your zines,
- And so many more!
Zines are an amazing art activity to do with students because they are made with minimal materials- all you need is paper, a writing utensil, a pair of scissors, and your creativity! Once children know how to make zines, they can easily make more at home and explore further. Furthermore, the DIY spirit of zine-making is to be raw and authentic. This makes zines an accessible, low-barrier art form for students to express themselves and tell stories, without getting bogged down by making their art look like what they expect “Art” to look like.
Giving a brief history of the uses of zines for activism and self-expression is also an implicit (or explicit if you so choose) way to show children that their personal experiences are valid and worth sharing. This is especially critical when conducting science learning outdoors that challenges hegemonic models of science and knowledge. Zines teach children that they are the experts of their own lived experience, and they can share and express their truth even if it is at odds with the dominant narratives of our society.
Zines are a low-barrier, accessible way for students to engage with the land and beings around them through art. Zine making can be done anywhere, including outdoors. So go out, grab pencils and paper, and make zines!
Further Resources:
- Making Zines with Young Artists + Writers by Rebecca Pitts
- WHAT ARE ZINES? by Julia Setele, Buffalo State University
- “How to make a zine from one piece of printer paper” Youtube Video Tutorial by The Oregonian
Below are a few examples of zines from my students:
Zines (short for magazines) are handmade mini-books produced at home with minimal materials. They have historically been used by marginalized groups and counter-cultures to disseminate information widely and cheaply, often information that traditional print media aren’t willing to publish. Zines are still being used today as a powerful tool to share one's voice without limitations.
Although the beauty of zines is that they can be about anything, the broad categories that most zines fall into are:
- How-To Guides
- Autobiographical / Self-Expression
- Activism / Spread Awareness
True to the nature of zines, they don’t have to be confined to the walls of art class. I like to use zines in outdoor learning because of how accessible and adaptable they are. Personally, I try to carry as few materials as I can when in the field with students, so zines are the perfect art activity that uses materials I am usually already carrying. Also, because zines can be about anything, I can easily adapt a zine lesson to whichever concept or theme that I’m exploring with my students.
If you have never taught a zine lesson to students, I have a few tips for doing so in the field:
Tips:
Adjust your level of scaffolding to the age group. Elementary school students will need more guidance than teens, for example.
- For younger students, consider printing out zine templates ahead of time that provide prompts for each page of the zine. You can find examples online or make your own.
- Comics, or telling a short story, are also an easy way to prompt younger students to engage with zines.
Provide prompts that relate to a theme or concept your group is learning.
- For example, if your group has been exploring the theme of “Water,” a prompt could be, “What is your favorite memory with water?” or “How can humans positively impact our watersheds?”
Consider providing an audience for your students’ zines.
- Your students can make their zine as a gift or a letter for a loved one, or for your next group of students, to increase buy-in.
- Choosing an audience is also a great way to get your students to create activism-centered zines. Have your group brainstorm and choose an audience instead of deciding for them!
Provide physical examples from previous students or online zine libraries. One or two zines are a very light and small contribution to your field backpack.
- When possible, have examples from children the same age as your students so they don't feel pressured to create art at the same level as adults.
More artistically inclined students will take more time on their zines than their counterparts, so prepare an alternate activity for those students who finish early.
- Encourage them to add embellishments or color, or offer a follow-up activity. Or they can collaborate with a partner and make another zine!
Cultivate a culture of error- art is about the process rather than the outcome!
- Make a zine alongside your students to model having a good attitude about art and have fun together.
- Have your students share their zines with partners or small groups, and encourage students to give compliments and positive feedback to each other.
- When looking at your students’ art, avoid generic phrases like, “That’s great!” and instead give specific compliments that highlight their artistic choices and effort, such as, “I like your use of the color blue here,” or, “I can tell how much time you spent on shading that leaf!” Also, try to ask questions that dive deeper into how and why they made certain artistic choices, such as, “I wonder how you made your trees look that way. Can you show me?”
Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box! Further zine possibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Collaging with leaves from the ground,
- Coloring your zines with pigment you make from the plants or fungi around you,
- Using a zine as a nature journal to draw, make observations, and record wonderings,
- Using a zine as a diary to reflect on what they learned or experienced in outdoor school,
- Tracing leaves or rubbing tree bark on your zines,
- And so many more!
Zines are an amazing art activity to do with students because they are made with minimal materials- all you need is paper, a writing utensil, a pair of scissors, and your creativity! Once children know how to make zines, they can easily make more at home and explore further. Furthermore, the DIY spirit of zine-making is to be raw and authentic. This makes zines an accessible, low-barrier art form for students to express themselves and tell stories, without getting bogged down by making their art look like what they expect “Art” to look like.
Giving a brief history of the uses of zines for activism and self-expression is also an implicit (or explicit if you so choose) way to show children that their personal experiences are valid and worth sharing. This is especially critical when conducting science learning outdoors that challenges hegemonic models of science and knowledge. Zines teach children that they are the experts of their own lived experience, and they can share and express their truth even if it is at odds with the dominant narratives of our society.
Zines are a low-barrier, accessible way for students to engage with the land and beings around them through art. Zine making can be done anywhere, including outdoors. So go out, grab pencils and paper, and make zines!
Further Resources:
- Making Zines with Young Artists + Writers by Rebecca Pitts
- WHAT ARE ZINES? by Julia Setele, Buffalo State University
- “How to make a zine from one piece of printer paper” Youtube Video Tutorial by The Oregonian
Below are a few examples of zines from my students:
