Beautiful Flowers from a Bug's Point of View

1. Invite students to observe flowers and plants, both real and pictures, and discuss them in terms of Elements and Principles of Design. Compare and contrast size, color, petal shape, seeds, patterns, and symmetry or asymmetry in design. Discuss insects as pollinators, and where they may land as they collect their own nectar. When we view flowers and plants from a distance, we often see clusters of color. Imagine what an insect/ bug might see when it is viewing those same flowers and plants.
2. Once the discussion appears exhausted, distribute Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils, two pieces of white construction paper and Crayola Blunt Tip or Pointed Tip Scissors to students. Instruct them to draw and cut a large circle out of one piece of the construction paper provided.
3. Draw second circle on the second piece of construction paper and create a border on that circle for writing space, similar to a pizza crust.
4. Students use Erasable Colored Pencils to draw flowers that fill the entire round space. Encourage them to vary the size, shape and design of each flower.
5. Using Crayola Construction Paper Crayons, students color the spaces in BETWEEN the flower shapes.
6. Crayola Watercolor Pencils can be used to color the flowers only and brush with water to create a painterly effect.
7. Allow time for paint to dry. Then trace over all of the edges with Crayola Fine Tip and Washable Markers to create either a multicolored or simple dark outlined picture.
8. Students complete this project by writing about flowers in the border space (color words, parts of a plant, the plant growth cycle, a poem, a sentence describing their garden). If time permits, organize an opportunity for children to present their artwork to small groups of peers.

LA: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade level topic or subject area.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

LA: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, using formal English when appropriate to task and situation.

MATH: Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.

SCI: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

VA: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

VA: Elaborate on an imaginative idea.

VA: Make art or design with various materials and tools to explore personal interests, questions, and curiosity.

VA: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

VA: Demonstrate an understanding of the safe and proficient use of materials, tools, and equipment for a variety of artistic processes.

Use children’s literature for connections, discuss the similarities and differences in flowers and plants, and how insects and other animals need plants to continue their life cycle.

Using a variety of materials and techniques to make insects and other animals that depend on plants.

Create the same project but limit the media to only one, not a mixed media approach.