Dali's Long-legged Elephants

I did this project with 4th graders a couple of years ago...really wanted to try it again last year and ran out of time so I squeezed it in early with this year's 3rd graders. We practiced drawing elephants in our idea books and then went for it on the 9x18 paper. We outlined with black washable marker and drew the background in crayon. After the background is complete, we marker washed the elephants. Can you tell I'm on a marker wash kick lately?

 

 

 

 

Dali's Long-Legged Elephants (Fourth Graders)

I can't remember where I saw this wonderful lesson, but I borrowed it nonetheless! We read the story "Dali and the Path of Dreams", which is so creative and interesting, and created a word web in our Idea Books about SURREALISM. Then, we did a guided-echo drawing of an elephant.

The students outlined the elephants with a brown or black washable marker. Then we used water to paint over the elephant. This creates nice value! Once the elephants were "smeared" then we painted backgrounds with tempera cakes (my new favorite paint because it's so easy to use!)

Finally, the best part.....we added fabric to the elephant for a shawl and headpiece to tie in a cultural reference to India and their use of elephants. Sequins were also a nice touch for 'jewels'.

Fabulous!

The shadow lines are a great extra something!