Pre-historic Art!

Boy, oh, boy, did the 2nd graders have fun with this lesson. You know you have a keeper when someone tells you that they wish they could do this lesson for the rest of the year...
We spent a whole period viewing images from and talking about the earliest artists, our pre-historic ancestors. We talked about sculptures, megaliths and finally cave paintings, focusing on the Lascaux Cave in France amoung others. 2nd graders learned that pre-historic people existed before the invention of a written language and created some amazing and beautiful artwork.





I handed out a reference sheet with some simple line drawings influenced by images found in different cave art. Students were also given large sheets of brown craft paper. I encouraged them to crumple their paper so they could draw on a rough surface.




Using chalk pastel, students drew
a large animal. I explained that pastels blend nicely and had them use at least three colors in their animal. They also drew symbols that were found in different caves. The last and most exciting part for the students was when I sprayed their hands with red paint to simulate the cave of the hands in Santa Cruz, Argentina.



This was a super fun lesson for everyone that uses many skills, teaches history and opens the door for interesting, educational conversation.