Doodle Bugs

The kids have been really into catching insects lately. They are continually running to me in the yard to show me some creepy crawly or other. After catching about 25 baby grasshoppers yesterday, I decided it was time to do some bug art.

This project is more or less patterned after a project in the Usborne Art Skills book( p273 I believe). But instead of using inks we used watercolor, and I also incorporated watercolor pencils rather than ink or chalk for the details. I think they came out really cute. More importantly, the kids had some great opportunities to practice with several different media.

Procedure:

First things first, we painted a frame around our paper with watercolors. Paint the first color on dry paper so that it doesn't bleed into the middle. You can come back and paint other colors on the wet frame and let them blend if you want to. You can't tell from the scans, but we had some cool metallic watercolor that we used in some places.

While the frames were drying, we read a book about insects. We talked about the various body parts, the fact that insects have 6 legs, the different types of mouths, etc. We looked at the patterning on some of them and drew a few sketches. We also talked about symmetry and practiced a few examples. (Art, Science, and Math all in one lesson? Yay!)

By this time, our frames were dry and we started on our bugs. Using 3 shades of chalk pastels, we shaded and blended the bug bodies. Using a color to contrast with both the bug and the frame we shaded around the bug, adding a couple areas of other colors. Then wee blended the backgrounds, being careful not to smudge the bug too much.

Next came the watercolor pencils. These look like regular colored pencils, but they will blend with water. You can use these many ways, but here's what we did...We outlined our bugs and made designs on them in a dark color, pressing hard. Taking a small brush dipped in clear water, we carefully traced over the pencil lines, blurring them slightly. This made the pencil lines look more 'part of' the picture instead of just sitting on top of, and apart from, the picture. If you don't have water color pencils, you can try less detailed designs with bright watercolor and a small brush or chalk pastels. That, in fact, is what the Usborne book suggests, but I think the pencils allowed the children alot more control, which they really wanted on this project. My kids drew strongly on our Line and Design Lessons and came up with some beautiful, well thought out patterns for their doodle bugs.

After the bug was all designed, we came back with pastel chalks and added a few slashes and squiggles to the frame using colors from the bug and background.

A few flicks of watercolor to add a little more texture, and the pictures were complete.

Time:

This project did take us about 1.5 hours this afternoon, maybe even 2 hours for my slower artist, but they both really enjoyed it. You could also easily split it up into 2 or mor sessions when you switch media. We tend to be marathoners, though, no matter what the subject we are studying, so we did it all at once.

Your Pre-K kids can experiment with these media while you are doing more detailed work with older kids. Let them watercolor one day. When it is dry, they can use bright chalks to shade and mark over the painting. If they are open to suggestions, show them how to choose contrasting color chalks to go over the watercolor. For instance, on a dark spot they can use light colors which will really pop off the page. On light areas of paint dark colors will look vibrant.

Materials:

Insect book (optional)

Watercolor paper

Watercolors or inks

wide brushes and fine brushes

chalk pastels

Watercolor pencils

By the way, the bug at the top left is E's (7 yo), Next is H's (5yo), and then mine...