2nd Grade Patterned Landscapes

For this lesson 2nd graders discussed space and how to create the illusion that something is going back in space.  We look at several images with foreground, middle ground, and background.  Students problem solved why the objects in the background looked like it was further away then objects in the foreground.  We talked about how we can "trick" and give the illusion that something is further back  by changing the size of what we are drawing, even when it is on a piece of paper!  

Together we drew 3 hills going from one side of the paper to the other.  We then drew our trees. The first tree starts at the top of the paper and goes to the first line, the second tree to the second line, and third tree to the last line we drew.  It was important to stress to make each tree a little smaller when they drew it.  

Students were given a pattern packet and were asked to create three different patterns on their hills, keeping the trees and sky pattern free.  Once students had finished their patterns they outlined everything with a sharpie marker.  Using crayons students then started coloring some spaces on their hills.  They were instructed to leave WHITE SPACES that were not colored in at all because that is where the watercolor would go.  After students finished with crayon they used a brown and white oil pastel to give the trees some value.  To finish off students could pick a maximum of 4 watercolors to paint the sky and three hills.

This student made hers into a holiday themed; the first hill for Valentine's Day, second for the 4th of July, third for Christmas, and the sky for Halloween.  Don't you love the way kids think?