Kindergarteners are finishing up an in-depth unit on art from long, long ago - Prehistoric times! We made cave drawings, studied Stonehenge, imagined a dinosaur landscape, and built fossils. Clay fossils are fun to make by pressing dino toys and bones, plants, and shells into clay slabs, then covering them with "mud" paint and rinsing it away to create the look of a fossil that has been buried for thousands of years.
Stonehenge is a very early example of post-and-lintel architecture. We researched the history of this 5,000 year old architectural site and drew from observation of photos. We created a landscape with a horizon line, a view of the sun, and diminishing size.
Next, we drew more landscapes, this time from our imaginations - what would a landscape look like during the days of the dinosaur? From scientific illustrations, we discovered that they liked wet, warm climates with lots of plant life.
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| These two are well-accessorized - jewelry, lashes, lips! |
Finally, we examined the caves at Lascaux using this super cool virtual tour website. (Thanks for sharing this info, Art of Ed) We drew cave art using portrait sets of oil pastels, which are the perfect colors for clay, mud and ash - the tools of choice for cave painters.
I love the cave painting idea! WHat kind of paper did you use for that project? Thanks so much! -Caitlin in PA
ReplyDeleteThanks! We used the brown butcher paper that comes in big rolls, usually on a stand.
DeleteCan you tell me how the kids created the fossils? Looks like a very fun project! Did you fire the clay? And what paint did you use? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes! This post - http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2010/12/kindergarten-clay-fossils.html - shows more of the steps. The paint is watered down brown/black tempera.
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