In one of our lessons in my Art Methods class we did a pretty cool activity. What made it special was that I really believe students will enjoy this one maybe more than some of the others. We (the students) chose an animal from an African Safari. Exciting already I know! After an animal was chosen we were instructed to draw it lightly with a blue colored pencil on a special piece of paper. The next instruction was to color over it with dark lines using force to make sure the lines were dark and solid. It was now hard to see the chosen animal.


Here above is what my project looked like after putting a blue piece of construction paper behind it. The coolest part of this project is the glasses we hand made to make the picture come to life! As you can see, we cannot see what the picture is. However, when the magic glasses are put on you can see the lion.

This project can be used in many different ways. As a future teacher I believe I would use this idea in a science unit. I believe in fourth grade animal classification becomes a good topic for the students. I would ask all of my students to do the following:

• Choose an animal
• Write a research paper on it
• Make this art project with your animal
• Provide a "get-to-know" note card for your art
• Present it to the class. 

These things are good ways to start a good thematic unit. These ideas could be brought up to other teachers in hopes to team up and get students excited.