1st Grade Imaginary Animals

In this painting project first grade students learned about the Russian artist Marc Chagall and used his artwork as inspiration to create their own imaginary animal.  Students learned that Marc Chagall used his memories of his childhood and images from his dreams to come up with a magical, beautiful and sometimes mysterious art.  He grew up listening to Russian folk tales and fairy tales in which animals were human like and enjoyed making made-up animals in his art. Chagall was a great dreamer and had an amazing imagination, mixing scenes from his dreams with those from real life.  To create their own imaginary animal the first graders brainstormed a list of interesting animals as a class.  They each had to then choose 3 animals to “mix-up” and make into their own imaginary animal.  After drawing the animals they painted their animals and then added details with oil pastels and glitter paints.

Way to use your imagination first graders!!!!