Tropical Birds by 2nd Grade

I LOVE THESE!! This is one of my favorite projects my second grade students do each year. They are so bright and beautiful and remind me of a tropical vacation, which everyone could use right now. The first step the kids took was to sketch out their birds and background in pencil on 12"x18" white paper. I did some sample drawings of different bird parts (beaks, tails, head feathers, eyes) on the board so they could see how many different ways there are to make their bird unique. Then they traced over the lines with Sharpies.

Next they used watercolors to fill in their paintings. We talked about how to control the value and thickness of the paint using the amount of water in the paint wells and on their brush. I think they really enjoyed the painting part of this project.

The final results came out beautiful!! Enjoy!!