Lions with lines!

           1st graders just finished these fun lions made from pencil, oil pastel and felt for texture. We learned about line, shape and texture. It was a nice project to start the year with and it allowed me to review the Art Elements with the little ones at our school.
           To start this project I used a lid to serve as a circle for students to trace and use as the face of the lion. Teachers may want to trace the circle themselves before hand. This it easier to begin the project since it can often be hard for younger students to start a project and make it big enough. We had discussed the lines and shapes involved with creating our lions so this was a nice way to transition into our project.
            I was worried about oil pastels for 1st grade but they loved using them and I was happy with the outcome. My little all-star lions enjoyed this. One other thing - I used a great book to teacher line called Where a Line Bends a Shape Begins. It really helped my kids understand how lines create shapes and how we put this all together to create a drawing.