3 Unbelievably Authentic Literature Summer Camp Art Activities
Nothing goes together better than literature and art. Combining the two is a great opportunity for cross-curricular activities that can improve both a student’s art skills and their reading comprehension. Reading and creating can be a great way to get students engaged in both subjects while adding even more value to the classroom. Here are three of the most authentic literature-inspired art projects that are perfect for summer art camps.
This vibrant collection of summer bus artworks bursts with creativity, perfectly capturing the spirit of literature-inspired art camp fun.
Tap-Tap Busses
Tap-Tap Busses is a children’s art activity that uses the book Tap-Tap by Karen Lynn Williams. Tap-Tap is a story about the tap-tap buses in Haiti which serve as taxis and giant pieces of art. Reading the story is a great way for students to learn about a small part of Haitian culture while seeing vibrant illustrations of the tap-tap buses.
The tap-tap busses art project gives students the opportunity to design their own tap-tap busses. Students will start by drawing an outline of a bus. Students will then use mixed media like watercolors, markers, crayons, and pastels to add designs and patterns to their bus. When they are finished, students can cut out their bus and glue it to a black piece of construction paper to serve as an outline.
Students can then cut out their bus with the outline and glue it to a piece of white construction paper to serve as a background. To add a finishing touch, students can use tempera paints to splatter their background for an additional touch of color.
Seahorses
This easy seahorse project for kids is a perfect project to pair with the book Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle. Mr. Carle's books are ideal for cross-curricular exploration as they often feature vibrant and exciting illustrations made from unlikely techniques like collage.
After reading the book, students will begin creating their seahorse art by painting in warm colors. Provide students with orange construction paper and red and yellow tempera paints. Instruct the students to fold their construction paper in half and paint one side with the yellow paints and the other with the red paints.
The next step is to paint with cool colors like blues, greens, and purples. Provide students with white tag boards and instruct them to apply their cool colors all over the white paper.
While each of those pieces dries, students begin working on the background. To create the background of this underwater scene students will use liquid watercolors in the spray bottle and a white piece of tag board. Have students spray their white paper about 8 times with the blue liquid watercolor. This will give a fun underwater look to the paper. Students can also add large blue and white polka dots to add more texture to the background.
Once everything's dry, students can cut out their coral and their school of fish from the painted orange construction paper. They can then cut out their sea horse from the paper painted with cool colors. Once all the elements are cut out, students can arrange them and glue them to their underwater background to create a fun sea horse scene straight from an Eric Carle book.
Hound Dog
The hound dog activity is a fun and engaging way to practice drawing for students of any age. Inspired by the book Charlie the Ranch Dog and the Elvis Presley song, this simple art project teaches students how to use a real dog in their lives to inspire their art.
Students will begin the project by using basic shapes to draw the face of a dog. The top of the head can be drawn as a soft square while the ears are long ovals. A soft rectangle can be used as the nose. In this case, soft shapes are shapes with rounded corners rather than hard angles.
After they have drawn their dog out with basic shapes and pencils, students can use a black permanent marker to outline their drawing. Once the outline is created, students can begin filling in the background. Give your students the freedom to create a background that is suitable for the dog within their artwork. Some students may choose to paint a blue sky with white fluffy clouds while others may opt for polka dots, stripes, or their favorite solid color.
To finish off this simple painting, students can paint their dogs with pearlescent watercolor cakes. These watercolors are a fun alternative to traditional colors and give the dogs a nice sheen that mimics the shine of a beautiful coat.
More GREAT IDEAS:
Designed specifically for classroom use, these worksheets provide a template for your students to explore the concepts of tints and shades while developing their artistic skills. Whether you're looking for a way to enhance your art curriculum or just want to inject some creativity into your classroom, these worksheets are sure to inspire your students!
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Get to know Amanda Koonlaba!
Hi! I’m Amanda. Teaching children to be creative thinkers is my greatest joy. I’m here to help you bring that same joy to your classroom.
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