Cave Art Lesson

To kick off our culture lessons, we began with prehistoric Paleolithic people and their cave art. The kids were impressed with the story of the Lascaux Caves in France and enjoyed prediciting what a Paleolithic artist would have used for paint, canvas, etc.
To simulate the organic nature of cave art, we used non-perfect, no machine-cut,  ripped paper shopping bags. { thank you parents and students for bringing those in! } We roughed the paper up by "sanding" along the corner of our tables and scrunching into balls. Some of the paper felt more like fabric when they were finished.
We built upon an earlier lesson of drawing animals using basic shapes first and then filling in the form and details. For the cave art, the students could only use:

 o   CHALK ( gypsum, limestone, etc)

o   SEPIA COLORING STICK (red clay dirt) 
o   CHARCOAL (charcoal from burnt wood, coal)

Most of the students had never used sepia coloring stick or charcoal and they LOVED it. Yes, it's messy so have your clean-up materials nearby if you are planning to do this at home. The coloring sticks were purchased at Nevada Fine Arts and the chalk and charcoal at Walmart in the crafts section.$5 worth of supplies that will last a while. If you don't want to introduce the charcoal to your white carpet, try substituting brown, burnt sienna, black, and white crayons. { daily life skills connection }

Some students used the animal books in the room to reference and others drew from memory. The final results have been displayed in our very own "Hall of Bulls" outside the art room. The pieces on display were picked by their peers. This leads to the opportunity to discuss how art is subjective and how people are drawn to different art than others. It doesn't mean the art that was not chosen was bad or wrong; the chosen pieces simply jumped out at them. It appealed to their mood, preference for order, or chaos, etc. Check out that CNN article on Art and Neuroscience. { art and science connection } 

I've been told by a handful of students that they have purchased their own "how-to draw animals" book after this drawing lesson. YAY! Way to go, little artists! Others were inspired to bring in rocks - paleo style - with their wonderful drawings. Awesome!

You may have this video in your home collection. Check out the cave art scene in Ice Age where Manny, Diego, and Sid enter the cave. Manny has an experience with the drawings which gives the viewer insight into his character and foreshadows the events for the sequel. {language arts connection}