Overview The children will have fun in this activity making pictures from plasticene like those found in books.
Objective Students will creatively represent their ideas from reading through their plasticene art pictures.
Resources Any of Barbara Reid's illustrations found in such books as The New Baby Calf, Effie, Have You Seen Birds?etc., plasticene in various colors, plastic container lids, assortment of nails and other small objects for marking the plasticene.
Activities and Procedure Read a number of Barbara Reid's books and discuss the illustrations. Then have the children read other books about the same topic. Discuss how they might make similar illustrations to show what they learned from reading the second book. Have them draw a plan of their picture first on paper. Encourage them to make simple, not too detailed pictures. Then give each child one plastic lid to be the base for their art work. After deciding on background colors, tell them to make a thin layer to cover the lid. They will need to press carefully with their thumbs to make a thin background layer. Then have them add other items in their pictures. Finally they can add small details using the tool assortment.
Tying it All Together Have a sharing session where children can tell about their art work and relate it to the books they read.