Salty Snow Silhouette

crayola supplies

• Colored Pencils
• Washable Watercolors
• Watercolor Brushes with Plastic Handle
• Glue Sticks
• Pointed Tip Scissors
• Construction Paper
• Giant Marker and Watercolor Pad

household supplies

• recycled newspaper
• sponges
• paper towels
• container(s) of water
• kosher salt

Why?

Design a stark winter landscape with long shadows. Show silhouettes of trees, snowboarders, sleighs, or other winter scenes. Add a sprinkle of salt and you're set!

Steps

1. 1. Find examples of snow scenes and silhouettes that have a great impact. Search fine art examples (Monet's Haystacks in the Snow), as well as children's literature (The Snowy Day), advertising, packaging, and other uses. How are snow effects achieved by artists?
2. 2. Experiment with ways to achieve snowy silhouettes, such as the technique outlined here. Cover your work area with newspaper. To create the sky for your snowstorm wet watercolor paper with a sponge.
3. 3. Fill a Crayola® Watercolor Brush with one color of Crayola Watercolor Paint. Brush the wet color over the wet paper. Rinse your brush and add a second color, blending the colors together on the paper. Cover the entire page to resemble sky colors during a snowstorm.
4. 4. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle kosher salt on the painting. Watch the salt absorb the watercolors to make a crystal or snowy pattern. Dry.
5. 5. On dark construction paper, sketch silhouettes of winter images with a white Crayola Colored Pencil. You might make skiers or snowboarders, trees, sleighs, skylines, or other wintry scenes. Use Crayola Scissors to cut out silhouettes. Attach them to your winter sky with Crayola Glue Sticks.

adaptations

Try various Crayola products to create winter scenes. For example, build a landscape using white Model Magic, spatter white tempera paint, or draw with white colored pencils or glitter glue to resemble a snowy setting. There are so many possibilities!

Carefully trace the silhouettes of your classmates on dark construction paper, cut them out, and glue them onto light construction paper. Experiment with how shadows are made.

Create an all black and white scene of penguins in a snowstorm. Find out where penguins live, study their markings, and design an authentic scene.

benefits

Students research outstanding artwork, from fine art to advertising, that is created with snow scenes silhouettes.

Students experiment with how to depict various weather conditions, such as snow, when creating a painting.

Students paint a snow scene with watercolors and then add silhouettes to enhance the landscape.

grades

Grades 4 to 6
Grades 7 to 12

subjects

Science
Visual Arts

time

30 to 60 minutes
Multiple Sessions

curriculum standards links

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

safety guidelines

Crayola Washable Paints—Not for use as body/face paint.

Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.

Sponges and Foam—Sponges, foam, and other expandable materials should not be used with children 3 years old and younger.

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