First we read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel and looked at some of Henri Rousseau’s jungle pieces. We noticed that he painted a variety of animals and very large jungle leaves.
Next I had the kids watercolor green background: We talked about how Henri Rousseau used many different shades of green. Show kids how to use just a bit of water so the paper doesn’t take too long to dry. Show them how to mix green with yellow, blue, white, black, and brown to make different shades of green.
Next we found some tutorials for kids to draw animals:
- Tiger by Messy Little Monster
- Sloth by The Crafty Cucumber
- Lion by Art Projects for Kids
- Toucan by Art Projects for Kids
Draw your animals and then paint or use colored pencils to color them. After it dries, use a black sharpie to outline them and the cut them out carefully.
I found some tropical leaf outlines to enlarge and print on cardstock to use as tracing templates. Teach the kids how to trace the leaves on the edge of the paper so not to waste paper. Cut out the leaves and then use sharpie to outline and add veins.
Glue the animal and leaves to the green watercolor background.
Crumple little pieces of brightly tissue paper as the flowers and fruit. Glue them to the jungle scene.
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