#30 Undersea Watercolor Resist
Grade Level: K-4
NOTE THIS LESSON PLAN WILL BE COMBINED WITH #19.
Description/Objective
Students learn or review how lines, shapes and colors create pattern and how overlapping shapes create the illusion of three dimensional space. They use those concepts in painting an undersea landscape.
Time
1 Hour
Materials
24" x 35" large paper and colored markers (for demonstration by teacher)
Photographs of colorful fish, seaweed, coral, etc. (selection)
11" x 14" white kid surface vellum bristol
#1 Pencils (1 per student)
Oil pastels (4 different colors for 2 students)
Watercolor paints - 8 or 16 color Prang or Crayola brand best (1 set per student or 2-3 students can share 1 set if necessary)
#10 or #12 round watercolor brushes (1 per student)
Water containers (1 per student)
Salt ( 2-3 shakers for class)
Drafting tape (optional)
Procedure
1. Optional - Teacher or older students should tape border before start of activity then carefully and slowly "untape" after work is dry to create white border.
2. Hang a piece of chart paper where it is visible to the whole class.
3. Ask for a student (or teacher can do) to draw an example (on the board or large paper) of a pattern made by repetition of line (straight line, curved line, straight line, curved line, etc.).
4. Ask for a student to draw an example of a pattern made by repetition of shape (big circle, little circle, big circle, etc.).
5. Ask for a student to draw an example of a pattern made by repetition of color (red, green, red, green, etc.).
6. Tell students that patterns are often found in nature. Have them think of some examples of patterns on animals, fish, etc. (examples are stripes, circles, scallops, etc.)
7. Display photographs of colorful fish and ask students to look for examples of patterns made by line, shape and color. Tell students that they will be drawing and painting patterned fish and putting them in an undersea environment.
8. Demonstrate how the illusion of three dimensional space can be created by overlapping shapes (a stem of seaweed overlapping a fish.)
9. Have students draw fish and undersea plants with pencil, erasing where lines are covered by overlapping.
10. Students draw over their lines with oil pastel and also use them to add pattern to their fish and sea plants.
11. Watercolors are painted over oil pastel colors which act as a resist (color will not penetrate).
12. Salt can be sprinkled on areas of wet paint to give the illusion of bubbles in the water.
Subject Matter Integration
SCIENCE: This project fits well in an ocean unit. Students learn the names of parts of a fish, and the different parts of the ocean where sealife is found (sandy beach, kelp forest, deep ocean).
Variations/Extensions
1. This same project can be done with colored tissue paper (the type which bleeds) instead of watercolor paint. Tissue is placed on the area where color is desired and brushed over with water. The color will bleed onto the paper and then the tissue can be lifted off.