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Carle Creatures

Carle Creatures

Let the colorful textured illustrations in Eric Carle's "From Head to Toe" inspire students to explore and create pictures of animals and their movements.

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.

  • Bubble Wrap
  • Paper
  • Sponge(s)

Steps

  • Step 1

    Talk about action words with students. Read "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle and ask children to point out or act out the actions the animals are performing and have them name the verbs.

  • Step 2

    Point out the textured illustrations in the book and talk about the technique of collage art. Ask each student to pick an animal they'd like to create and to come up with some body movements their animal might perform. Encourage a variety of animals among the class.

  • Step 3

    Have students create their animal in collage form and add some other details, such as features of its habitat or foods it might eat, on construction paper. Then talk about how they can add texture to their collage by using materials such as bubble wrap, sponges, etc., to apply watercolor paint.

  • Step 4

    Ask the students to present their collages and talk about their animals. When they are done the artwork can be assembled into an Eric Carle-style book.

Standards

LA: Apply knowledge of how language functions in different contexts to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading, writing, speaking, and/or listening.

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

Adaptations

Read other stories by Eric Carle, focusing on comparing and contrasting writing styles (repetition, alliteration, etc.).

Talk about how animals are classified into different groupings by type - mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates. Ask students to create a picture of an animal from each group.