Winter Birds (The Cardinal)

Living in one of the seven states whose state bird is the cardinal I thought it would be a nice break from the typical wintery projects. Plus, my students LOVE learning about animals.


To start I would find some interesting facts about the cardinal. I found some HERE. I'm sure there a million other places to find them. There are a lot of youtube videos out there that show cardinals in nature up close as well and the sounds they make! Of course, in my case, I would also include information on state birds.


I had a couple different ideas about how to approach this lesson.

• Paint the background and glue on the bird.
• Paint the background and oil pastel the bird.
• Paint the whole thing!

I opted to paint the whole thing for this example.

1. Draw the bird with them however you see best. I throw in a step by step drawing lesson with my students now and then.

2. Don't forget the branches! This is where they can experiment on their own with overlapping and space.

3. Have students outline their project in crayon to help them stay in the lines when they paint. (Another method is to have them paint in the lines as much as possible and outline after to "clean up" the edges)

4. I would have them paint top to bottom starting with the sky first. A neat idea in hind sight would be to have the students do a technique like salt with their watercolor.

5. Next I would have them go back to the top and paint the branches. This leaves the bird and small details for last.

6. It wouldn't be a winter landscape without SNOW! I didn't take a picture of my example with snow. DOH! Of course, you could have them dot the background with white paint and Q-tips! If you are more ambitious what about snowy puff paint (equal parts glue and shaving cream)?!?!? OR GLITTER! Okay, yeah, maybe not glitter...... But maybe...


Adaptations: Students could marble or string paint white on blue paper for falling snow. They could also paint on brown paper or use plain brown paper that can be cut into strips. Glue down the strips as branches. Students can paper piece or sponge on the bird with a template and add eyes and even maybe feathers to their projects.


Wouldn't it be neat if they could actually glue twigs on their papers?!?!

3D Construction Paper Lizards!

I have not done these yet with my students and hope to do them soon! I got the idea from a Pinterest pin and HERE is a link to a blog that helped me figure out the steps!

So this is the basic idea. I have tons of ideas on how to make it more or less complex but for now I am sticking to the basics.

1. Start with a large rectangle of construction paper.

2. Fold paper in half long ways (hot dog style).

3. Use a large ruler, (I might create a template for this since we don't have enough of these) and draw a line from corner to corner (it is okay if it isn't perfect).

4. Cut along the line with the paper folded.

5. You should end up with this.

6. This step is interchangeable so I will list it as one step. You need to decorate your lizard with some type of neat patterns. You also need to fold in the sides like the pictures below. My suggestion is to have the students color them while you walk around and help them fold.

7. Once folded and colored you need to cut the middle crease up to the fold lines. Make sure the cutting stops at the folds!

8. Once cut you will need to run glue along one side and glue the two solid sides together overlapping. This is a little tricky. I used clips to hold it all together.

9. Last but not least you will need a head, eyes, tongue and legs. This could be done many different ways so I will just post pictures of what I did. I think I might either make a template or use little rectangles for the legs.

10. AND NOW you are done! Exciting right?!?!


Want something a little more complex?
Try THIS BLOG for instructions on how to make a 3D head for your lizard!


Adaptations: Students can print on construction paper. When it is dry draw the lines they will need and have them cut along the lines. Glue together or glue dot them together. Add features such as buttons or google eyes, pipe cleaner or strips for tongue and they can glue strips together for hands and feet!

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I am starting this blog as a way to document and share art lessons and project ideas with my viewers. I hope you find my blog useful!


Thanks!
- Ms M