3rd grade Rainforest drawings

3rd grade students have been studying biomes in science class.  The major types of biomes are split up into five categories: aquatic, forests, desserts, grasslands, tundra.  Later in the year 3rd graders will do a fish art project and for this project, we focused on rainforests.  

​I introduced the students to the artwork by artist Henri Rousseau.  
Henri Rousseau was a post-impressionist painter in France.  Although he did many types of paintings, he is well-known for his works of jungle animals. 
Here are a few images of his work:

 After looking at and discussing Rousseau's artwork, 3rd graders began their own art work inspired by the rainforest.

​​Students began by creating a colorful border of repetitive shapes and colors using construction paper crayons to have an interesting border for their drawings.  
​Next, each student selected a photograph of a rainforest animal and challenged themselves to do a realistic drawing of it.  This was a tough drawing challenge and the students did an awesome job of showing perseverance.  The students focused on the shapes, colors, and texture of the animal.  They used colored pencils for this.

To fill in the background space, students really focused on using the style of Rousseau to create repetitive patterns of plants and leaves using many different shades of green.  They used a contrasting color to fill in any 'empty space'.  

​These drawings turned out amazing.  I want to take them all home and hang them on my walls forever....