Under-the-Sea Chalk and Glue Drawings

I discovered this lesson while browsing through the Artsonia site recently. Gulf Elementary in Cape Coral, Florida displayed this beautiful Under-the-Sea chalk art on their school page. Although no lesson plans accompanied the piece, I experimented and came up with my own.
I used this lesson for fourth grade students but could be used for a fifth and sixth as well. For younger grades, use an easier subject matter (maybe penguins or sunflowers) and the results will be equally as grand.




The instructions are going to be brief because my christmas decorations are calling to me...

Step 1: I pass out sample drawings of various sea life...dolphins, sharks, sea turtles, seahorses, fish, etc.
Tip: Coloring books that you find at craft stores are especially helpful drawing aids. I demonstrate the basic principals in drawing the fish (I use the "shape" philosophy) and try to cover at leastthree different types (oval fish, elongated dolphins and round turtles). I encourage the kids to draw big, actually, I insist they draw big as they can because the glue will be applied next...

Step 2: Each student receives one piece of 12 x 18 black construction paper, a pencil, eraser and a bottle of white school glue.
I demonstrate the technique for the tracing pencil lines with the glue. Basically, I tell them to use the glue bottle as they would a pencil. The orange tip is like the lead: touch the paper, don't hover above it and hope for the best.
After drawing their fish, sea turtle, etc (only one please!), they trace their pencil lines with the glue. Lay papers flat on the floor until dry. This marks the end of Part I.
Tip: If you have a drying rack that has a slight tilt, it's wise to lay the pieces on the floor until the glue "sets", then you can rack 'em up.
Tip #2: Be careful the kids (or any wayward parent helper) doesn't track footprints over the art. Yes, this happed to me.

Step 3:
Using chalk pastel, the kids color in their fish, seaweed and the ocean. I emphasize that the top of their picture should be a light colored ocean and the bottom should be dark. Gradations of blue are used to achieve this subtlety in the sun's filtration.

Step 4: I demonstrate how to add highlights with white chalk and tones with black chalk. I give them the "black pastel is powerful, so control it" speech and let the kids experiment with the highlighting.

Step 5: The children now add details such as scales, patterns, lines, gills to their pictures using chalk and without blending their lines in.