Bugs in the Garden

I found the perfect art project to tie into an insect unit Grade 2 students had just finished. 

I found this lesson on the art blog "K-8 Art" here.

I pre-traced (used a large plastic ice cream lid) a whole bunch of large circles onto medium weight white drawing paper. Students could choose any flying insect they wanted- most, if not all, chose a dragonfly or butterfly. Draw that off-center somewhere, focussing on getting the correct body parts (head, thorax, abdomen, wings, antennae). Then, fill in the rest of the circle with a variety of flowers. We discussed variety and how it makes an artwork more interesting to look at. We talked about varying the sizes, heights and types of flowers. After drawing in pencil, ideally you should have the kids outline the flowers and insect with a permanent black marker. We had run out, however, so used washable black markers at the end, once the watercolour step had dried.

Color in everything, except the sky/background, using wax crayons. 

Students had fun painting over the whole image with watercolor paint. Let dry.

Once dry, you can outline with black markers like we did, then cut out the circle.

Ta da!