Secondary Color SlothCOLOR, TEXTURE & STENCILING

TIME REQUIRED: Two sessions @ 40 minutes

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !2

Inspiration for this lesson came from Susan and

James Patterson’s book Cuddly Critters for Little

Geniuses. Though I

don’t recommend this

book as a read aloud,

the cute illustrations and

interesting animal facts

will be fun for your

students to look at.

This sloth lesson focuses

on reinforcing the color wheel by only using the

three secondary colors: violet, orange and green. In

addition, students will create their own leaf stencils

for their rainforest background.

ABOUT SLOTHS Sloths are best known for their slow lifestyle. They

move only when necessary and, when they do

move, their average speed is 13 feet per minute.

Most sloths are the size of a small dog and they

spend their days

hanging from trees,

eating and sleeping.

Sloths are native to

rainforests in Central

and South America.

Check out this 2

minute PBS Nature

video about sloths:

click here.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

9” x 12” white sulphite paper

12” x 18” orange sulphite

paper

1.5” x 18” green sulphite paper

4” x 6” white sulphite paper

4” x 4” black sulphite paper

6” x 6” scrap paper (for stencils)

Black permanent marker

Black oil pastel

Liquid tempera paint (red, blue,

white, green, yellow)

Medium flat paintbrush

Scissors and glue

Kitchen sponge

Orange crayon

Secondary Color Sloth

Image from: wikipedia.com

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !3

The first step in this lesson is creating

a lovely violet painted paper for the

sloth.

Prepare a paint palette with red, blue

and a little white tempera paint. Talk

about how red and blue mix together

to create the SECONDARY color

VIOLET (or purple). I like to add a

little white into the red and blue

mixture so that the violet becomes

brighter. Red and blue paint alone

mix together to create a very dark

violet that is almost black, so white

really gives the violet some life.

After mixing your violet on the paint

palette, paint it onto a a 9” x 12”

piece of white sulphite paper.

Use the end of the paintbrush to add

TEXTURE lines into the wet paint.

This will later look like the sloth’s fur.

TIP: If an area of the painted paper gets

dry before you have a chance to add

the texture lines, either re-paint that

area with paint OR paint a little water

over the dry paint to reactivate it.

Mixing and Painting Violet

=

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !4

While your violet paper is drying, start on your

background, which will be GREEN and ORANGE,

following a secondary COLOR SCHEME.

Begin by creating a few leaf stencils

out of 6” x 6” scrap paper.

Fold each paper in half and draw

half of a leaf on the fold line.

Leave the paper folded and carefully cut

out the SYMMETRICAL leaf.

TIP: To make the stencil making quicker

and a collaborative process, have each

student in a table group create just one stencil and

then the table group can share all their stencils

among themselves.

Place a stencil along the edge of a 12” x 18” orange

sulphite paper. Dip a damp piece of sponge into

green paint and dab inside the stencil.

When the leaf is filled in, carefully lift the stencil off

the paper and place it in another spot on the

background. Repeat until the edge of your paper is

full of leaves.

TIP: The leaves are more interesting if you have a

little white and yellow along with the green paint OR

you can use this as an opportunity to reinforce

mixing the color green by offering only yellow and

blue paint to be sponged on the leaves.

Creating Leaf Stencils

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !5

After your violet painted paper is dry, turn the

paper over and draw the outline of a sloth.

Use the guide on page 7 to draw the sloth.

TIP: Start the sloth by drawing the biggest,

widest letter “U” you can fit on your paper.

This ensures that your sloth isn’t too small.

Cut out the sloth.

Draw the face on a 4” x 6” piece of white

paper. Start by drawing an oval. Check to

make sure the oval will be a good size for your

sloth. Add eyes, a nose and a mouth. Add

orange patches on each side of the head

behind the eyes with the orange crayon. Cut

out and glue on your sloth.

Start assembling your sloth and background.

Add a long green vine across the top of the

paper. Give the green paper a crinkle with

your hands before gluing it on the paper to

give it some TEXTURE.

Glue the sloth onto the background. Overlap

one of his arms and legs with the vine.

Making the Sloth

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !6

Finishing TouchesFinish the sloth by adding black paper feet.

Fold a 4”x 4” black piece of paper in half and

then in half again.

Draw a simple foot on the paper.

Cut the foot out. Because the paper is folded,

you will have four feet.

Glue the feet to the sloth. Notice if the feet

should be glued up or down based on how the

sloth is holding onto the vine.

An optional last step is using the stencils and

green paint again to add a few leaves that

overlap the vine and sloth. This really makes

the sloth look like he is hanging in a real forest.

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !7

Sloth D R A W I N G G U I D E

Start the sloth by drawing the biggest, widest letter “U” you can on your paper.

1

3

5 6

4

2

Draw an arm, which will be above the sloth’s head. Draw the arm by connecting the end of the “U” with an upside-down “U.”

Draw a curved line over from the arm to make the top of the sloth’s head. Draw another arm.

Draw a curved line down towards the center of the body for the side of the sloth’s head.

Go to the other end of the sloth. Draw the back leg.

Draw the second back leg and then curve down and connect the lines to make the body of the sloth.

ANIMAL ART B U N D L E

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !8

CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — Elaborate on imaginative ideas—

Apply knowledge of available resources to develop personal ideas in artwork

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — Create personal artwork with a variety of

media—Demonstrate understanding proficient use of materials—Construct everyday life

representations

Refine and complete artistic work—Elaborate visually by adding detail during art-making

that enhances meaning

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— Investigate and discuss

possibilities and limitations of spaces for exhibiting artwork

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — Identify exhibit space and prepare

works of art including artists’ statement for presentation

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work — Identify and explain how and

where different cultures record and illustrate stories and history of life through art

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- Speculate about processes an artist uses to create—

determine messages communicated by images Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — Interpret art by analyzing use of media to

create subject matter, characteristics of form and mood

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— Evaluate an artwork based on a given criteria

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- Develop a work

of art based on observations of surroundings

Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding —Recognize that responses to art change depending on knowledge of the

time and place in which it was made

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-third grade

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X

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D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !9

CCSS.Math.Content.3.G.A.2 Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the

whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each

part as 1/4 of the area of the shape.

You can tie in this standard while students are cutting out their leaf stencils. As they open up the

folded paper, you can point out that the fold line divides their leaf into two equal pieces. Ask them

if they see anything else in the room that can be divided into two equal pieces as an extension

question if you have extra time.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

After students finish their art, you can have them fill out the artist statement worksheet (located in

Teacher Aids). This information leads them to reflect on the process of art making while forming an

opinion about their own work based on the processes used, materials used, inspirations, etc.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or

speaking.

You can emphasize to students the importance of using conventions of standard English grammar

when writing their answers to the artist statement worksheet This is a wonderful way to help

students see cross-curricular connections between subjects!

Common core standards for SECONDARY COLOR SLOTH

I CAN STATEMENTS FOR SECONDARY COLOR SLOTH

• Today I will learn about COLOR so that I CAN use SECONDARY COLORS throughout my artwork,

using violet, orange and green.

• Today I will learn about TEXTURE so that I CAN scrape LINES in my violet paint to make fur.

• Today I will learn about BALANCE and STENCILING so that I CAN cut out a SYMMETRICAL leaf

and use it to print several times on my paper.

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E S P A R K L E R S C L U B !10

ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Student Name:

Did the student use a secondary color scheme throughout their artwork?

Did the student mix to make violet in their sloth and scratch lines in their paint to add texture?

Did the student cut a symmetrical leaf, then stencil it onto the edges of their paper?

Main Ideas from:

SECONDARY COLOR SLOTH