honey bees

When doing an art lesson, I like to draw with the kids as we follow the process step by step together, breaking down our subject matter into easyily recognizable shapes. Children are also deeply encouraged as they see their art begin to take shape before their little eyes. Often times I have had children say that they couldn't draw something but after showing them how to break things down into shapes, they realize they are indeed capable of drawing anything. This 'Honey Bee' lesson I did with my 3 year olds is a good example of that:

• First, we started off drawing the little bodies of our bees in the basic shape of an oval with black pastel.
  
• We then sectioned off a third of that oval with a line for his face and continued drawing lines down the rest on the body, colouring in alternative lines to create the zebra-striped effect.
  
• We then drew the details of the face, antennae, legs and wings.
  
• Once that was completed we used yellow food-colouring to paint over the entire body and wings of our bees and green or yellow around the outside. I love using food colouring in my classroom as it is both cost effective and gives the most lovely bright colours.
  
• We then took yellow poster paint and painted into the stripes of their little bodies with our fingers.
• Finally, repeating the finger-painting process, this time only with white paint to finish off the wings nicely.