Title by Flaming Text.com |
We did Wild Animals as a topic and found ways to make some really lovely animals using paper plates. Here's some that we made... |
Elephants |
Lions |
Tigers |
Monkeys |
We had a go at making snakes by stuffing stockings with shredded paper, tying the ends and painting them |
I wanted the children to develop their drawing skills and to try to use objects as a basis on which to practise their drawing. I used the topic of animals to introduce observational drawing to the children. As a whole group we looked at varied plastic models of jungle animals. We talked about the features of animals eg the number of legs, body shape, body covering. Next, I chose one animal eg a giraffe and we talked about its special features. Then step by step I modelled for the children how to draw the giraffe by observing the animal model. I showed children particular steps such as firstly drawing an oval shape for the body, next long legs, next a long neck and an oval shape for the head and so on, lastly adding special features such as a furry tail and spots on the body. While modelling these drawing techniques, I encouraged children to observe the model closely by using questions such as "How many legs does it have?", "Can you see any horns?" etc. We did this with a number of animals. Then I let the children have their own turn by setting up a table with animal models, pencils and paper and encouraged children to use the steps we had discussed to draw animals based on observation. Here is how the table was set up: |
Here is some animals that the children drew based on the activity: |
Madeleine's giraffe |
Ashley's elephant |
Madeleine's camel |
We gave the children animal outlines and paints based on the real colours of animals and encouraged the children to use the paints to create a realistic looking animal. Providing tiger and zebra outlines encouraged the children to extend their knowledge and use of patterns. |
Provide plastic animal models and wood blocks or leggo. Encourage children to build their own zoo. Talk about why certain animals need to be kept separated by fences in the zoo. Talk about the needs of animals within zoos eg space, food, water, shelter. |
Encourage children to bring in stuffed wild animal toys from home. Have the children use building blocks or cardboard boxes to build a shelter for a stuffed toy. Or complete graphing activites eg count and graph the number of lions, monkeys, zebras etc bought into the room. |
Find wild animal pictures in magazines and put them into a photo album (the kind without pockets) or into a folder with plastic slips. Place on the bookshelf for children to look at in their own time |
Provide different material scraps eg zebra, leopard, snake prints for children to glue with. Make wool, fur, string, leather scraps etc available also |
Visit second hand clothing shops (or ask for parent donations) and collect clothing depicting animal prints such as zebra, tiger or snake for children to dress up in. Fake fur, leather and snakeskin will all be enjoyed by children when added to the dress up box. |
Here's our snakes creeping through some jungle vines |
