Hidden Safari

For this activity we looked at paintings by Henri Rousseau and were asked to try to find different animals hidden in the jungle background. After we had done this short activity, we watched the intro of the Lion King to see more examples of safari animals. We then got into the lesson itself. We cut out our glasses shape from construction paper, then glued our red transparent material over our glasses. Following this, we did a short practice session of drawing different parts of animals and the jungle upside down (copying from examples). This made us focus more on the line we're actually seeing, rather than what we thought it was supposed to look like. After this practice, we picked a safari animal for our bigger project. We drew the animal lightly in a cool color (light blue), then drew repeating patterns in warm colors (red, orange, yellow, and pink) over our animal, effectively "camouflaging" them like the animals in Henri Rousseau's painting. After our animal was covered so that we couldn't see it anymore, we put on our red glasses which brought out the blue animal underneath. Following completion of our actual project, we mounted the paper on a bigger piece of construction paper, along with a note card that gave three clues as to what our animal was.
I think this is a good lesson for students to help teach many different elements of design; how to use contour lines, warm vs. cool colors, and pattern were all addressed in this lesson. The lesson also is fun for students because of the "hidden" safari animal that can only be seen with the special glasses.

The animal "hiding" in my own project.

I think a good extension activity for this project would be to draw two different depictions of the same scene, almost like a time lapse, rather than the safari animal. For example, you could use the blue pencil to draw a blooming flower, then in warm colors draw a brighter, much more vibrant scene depicting a flower bud about to bloom. You could also relate this to a short lesson about the weather; have students draw a rainy scene in the blue pencil, then draw a sunny scene over the top to hide it until you put on the glasses. Having students tell you about how rainy days or sunny days happen in conjunction with presenting their projects could help them remember how the weather works.