Creature Features

crayola supplies

Gel Markers
Model Magic®

household supplies

none

Why?

Explore the animal kingdom! Shape your creatures and their features—dots, stripes, prickly tongues, or antennae—one creature at a time.

Steps

1. How can you tell which animals are which? It’s not as if they introduce themselves! You learn their main features. Who has a trunk? What animal has a furry mane around its face? Each animal’s physical appearance makes that animal unique and helps you identify it. You can hardly mistake a snake’s long skinny shape, a bird’s uplifted wings, a lobster’s claws, or a ladybug’s wings.
2. What animal will you make? Cover a handful of white Crayola Model Magic® with color from a Crayola Washable Gel Markers. Blend until you have the hue you want.
3. Shape your animal’s main features first. Then build the rest of the animal. Model Magic fresh from the pack sticks to itself. Air-dry your creature.
4. If you wish, add more animal details with markers. Create a menagerie!

adaptations

Read African folktales that tell why animals have certain features, such as why the tiger has stripes or mosquitoes buzz in our ears. Compare stories with those from other cultures.

Visit a zoo and seek out less familiar animals. Uncover their unique features and keep a sketch journal to share back in the classroom.

Assessment: Ask children to sort their creatures into various categories such as those with two legs, animals with wings, and other characteristics. Check for accuracy in their sculptures and categorization.

benefits

Children understand the role of features to identify animals.

Children isolate features of selected animals.

Children recreate animals with their distinctive features using simple modeling techniques.

grades

Pre-K and Kindergarten
Grades 1 to 3

subjects

Science
Visual Arts

time

Less than 1/2 hour
Multiple Sessions

curriculum standards links

US: Research U.S. Standards
UK: Research UK Standards
Canada: Research Canada Standards

safety guidelines

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.