Octopus Oceans

First grade ocean pictures!

We read I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean to start things off. 

I also chose an octopus as our main subject because my first graders have been learning about hexagons and octagons and I want them to make the "8" connection between octopi and octagons. 

Step 1: Octopus drawing in pencil. Trace in white oil pastel. Color the circles in with yellow oil pastel. 

Step 2: Our focus was "careful coloring close-together" so that the oil pastels were bright and the kids could get there first crack at oil pastel color blending. Our color choice was influenced by the cover of Eric Carle's "Animals, Animals".

Step 3: We looked at closely at one of Van Gogh's ocean-scapes and how the Starry Night sky looks like the ocean. We painted the water in the style of Van Gogh and the student's had their first experience with oil pastel resist as they painted over white oil pastel wavy lines with turquoise and blue tempera cakes. 

 Last step: Introduction to 3-Dimensional art! We discussed the difference between 3-D and 2-D and I showed the students how to roll paper strips to create curly lines and how to fold accordion style to create zig zag lines. We glued on our 3-D seaweed for the final touch.