Bugs and Beetles

Allow your students to be inspired by the smallest creatures with a beautiful drawing of a monarch butterfly, a clay sculpture of a ladybird, a graphic printmaking activity of beetles, a scientific bug manual and much more.  

Within the K-2 category, students have the opportunity to complete a bright and colourful collage artwork of a ladybird flying in a garden. Next, students will create a sunny drawing of a Monarch butterfly using warm toned colours. Students will then learn beading techniques to create a gorgeous 3D beaded butterfly craft. The unit will conclude with a sweet ladybird clay project, teaching students about basic clay handling techniques that will make their sculptures pop. This unit will introduce students to the concept of colour and colour palettes, including warm and cool toned colours, and analogous and contrasting colour palettes. They will have the opportunity to experiment with composition, line, shape, and form, and will get to use a range of different artistic mediums including beading, drawing, collage and clay sculpture. 

In the 3-4 year category, students will learn printmaking techniques to create some magnificent symmetrical artworks of various bugs and beetles, adding colour and detail with watercolour paints. They will then conclude the unit with a fantastic project where they will learn watercolour painting techniques to create a showstopping quadriptych artwork of bugs and beetles, sure to brighten up any room. This unit will expand students’ knowledge of the technical application skills involved in watercolour and ink artworks, highlighting the elements of line, form, and space. Students will explore symmetry and asymmetry in artworks, learning about different compositions and their effect on the viewer. In replicating their reference images, students will use the elements of size, shape, colour, pattern and scale to produce representational images in a simplified and stylised way, implementing black lines to enhance the focus on the subject. Students will have to consider layout and composition in their artworks by taking into account the size and shape of different bugs. This unit is sure to enhance the technical skills of any young artist, and inspire them to notice the beauty of natures smallest creatures.

For years 5-6, students will have the chance to create their own fold-out sketch book using paper and string, and then fill the pages with scientific watercolour artworks of various bugs and beetles, complete with scientific labels for each body part. Students will then look up close at a monarch butterfly wing,  to create their own representational and realistic coloured pencil macro artwork. This unit will enhance student’s representational drawing skills, demonstrating step-by-step how to draw from a reference image by beginning with basic shapes and then refining until the desired result is achieved. Students will consider light, shadow, and contrast in their artwork, and will have the opportunity to learn shading techniques such as cross hatching and hatching. In the macro butterfly wing project, students will carefully evaluate a reference image, taking into account composition, colour, line, and texture, to create an artwork that mirrors the surface quality and form of butterfly wings. Students will experiment with colour mixing and will learn about colour schemes such as cool toned, warm toned, analogous, and contrasting colours.  This is a unit that will inspire your young artists and give them the technical skills to achieve greatness.