Canadian Animals with Antlers Silhouette Watercolor Painting

This is a watercolor project inspired by a Social Studies teacher I used to work with. He wanted to teach about Canadian animals with antlers. See my more detailed post about this lesson HERE.

Discuss with kids all the different animals we have in Canada with antlers. Don't get confused like me and say 'big horn sheep'- they have horns not antlers!  Antlers are made of true bone, are grown annually, and are dropped and re-grown each year. They are found in the deer family (Cervidae). 

Did you know that the moose is the largest member of the deer family!

Horns (found on animals like Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goats, or Bison) have a bony core covered in a permanent sheath made of keratin, and they are never shed.

We are lucky to live near Banff National Park so most, if not all of my students have seen these animals in the wild!

I changed it up a bit this year. Instead of painting the animal with black paint, we used sharpies. I'm finding the kids joining my classes in Grade 4 are lacking the fine motor skills kids pre-covid had. It's really disheartening to see. Kids are having way too much screen time and art teachers are seeing the consequences of that big time. 

Some Grade 4/5 finished artworks:

 

Northern Lights with Igloo Arctic Landscape painting

 

For this mixed-media project, Grade 4-6 students explored the beauty and ingenuity of Canada’s North. They learned about traditional igloos used by the Inuit in northern Canada—how they were carefully constructed from blocks of compacted snow and why their dome shape makes them a strong, efficient architectural structure for Arctic conditions. While igloos are no longer the common type of housing used by the Inuit, they remain culturally significant in Arctic communities. Igloos also retain practical value: some hunters and those seeking emergency shelter still use them.

"Igloo" (from Inuktitut iglu) means "house" or "home" in Inuit languages.

Inuit are the Indigenous people of the Arctic, numbering approx 70,545 in Canada, who primarily reside in Inuit Nunangat, a vast northern homeland spanning 40% of Canada's landmass and 72% of its coastline.

After looking at photos of northern lights, students began by painting vibrant Northern Lights using watercolours, experimenting with colour blending and movement to capture the magic of the night sky. They sprinkled salt on the wet paint to create a textural effect. Let dry overnight.

Then we watched this old short film from 1949 by the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) showing two Inuit men building an igloo. It's fascinating how they build it with just snow and a knife and from the inside. 

Students then drew their own igloo on a separate sheet, adding subtle shading with pencils and blue pencil crayons to create dimension and form. Finally, they cut out their igloos and collaged them onto their painted backgrounds. 

These artworks celebrates both the natural beauty and innovative design of Canada’s northern landscape.

 

Birch Trees Watercolour Paintings

This is a very popular and well-known art teacher project- you can see variations all over the internet. 

I think it's so popular because there is a high student success rate with this lesson, due to using masking tape. I've posted versions of this project many, many times in the past.

I now normally do this lesson with my Grade 7-9 class. 

On heavy white paper, draw a wavy horizon line for the snow. Then students use different sized widths of masking paper and tear/cut tree shapes and put it on the paper. Some choose to add branches for extra realism.

Trace around the bottom of the tree trunks with a pencil.

Paint the sky using watercolours. Let dry.

Some add salt for texture.

The next class, carefully remove the masking tape. Mix up a cool toned light grey/blue and use it to paint shadows down on side of each tree trunk. |Then, using the same paint, add cast shadows from the bottom of each tree. Make sure you go in the same diagonal direction for each tree.

Final step is to add the signature black markings using a thin brush and black paint.

I always love how these come out- it's a real crowd pleaser!!