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Lesson Plans

Spark creativity with Crayola lesson plans. With hundreds of activities, the learning possibilities are endless. 

Captivating Caves

Children will explore the world of caves and create a painting of one.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Ask children to think of words or phrases that describe caves. They might come up with dark, damp, rocky, quiet, mysterious, echoing, etc. Explain that caves are like rooms made inside of mountains or under the ground that form over a long period of time. Water drips through rocks and makes holes that keep getting larger as more water drips. Caves can be quite beautiful. Stalagmites and stalactites are icicles that form in caves. And some caves have beautiful and colorful shiny rocks. Show students some images of caves. Examples might include Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, the Blue Grotto sea cave in Italy, Fingal's Cave in Scotland, Hang Son Doong in Vietnam, or any others.

  • Step 2

    Ask children if they know what types of animals live in caves. Examples include bats, certain types of spiders, cave salamanders, blind cave fish, and others. These animals are known as "troglobites," which are animals that have adapted to life in total darkness. They are blind and have no pigment in their skin. Certain bears will seek out caves for hibernation during the winter. Caves are very important yet fragile ecosystems. They are a significant source of water, and they are the only habitat for troglobites, which can't survive outside of a cave environment.

  • Step 3

    Have children create a cave painting. They might choose to depict cave-dwelling animals, stalactites (which hang from the ceiling), stalagmites (which "grow" up from the floor), or themselves exploring a cave.

  • Step 4

    When their art is dry, have them present it to the class and describe their cave adventures and exploration.

Standards

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas.

SCI: Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

Adaptations

Early humans often painted art on the walls of caves. Some of the oldest known examples are over 40,000 years old! They often had symbolic meanings. Show children some images of cave art. Then ask them to create their own cave art using symbols that have special meaning to them.

Have the class collaborate to create a skit that features cave exploration and adventures. What would they discover inside? What mysteries might await? Would they interact with any mythical cave creatures?