4th Grade Aboriginal Dot Paintings

Fourth Graders are working on their Dot Paintings. We first learned about Australian Aboriginal artists, looking at prints of their artworks and watching a video about both their ancient and contemporary art. We talked about how the Aboriginal artists used native Australian animals in their artworks. We connected with the fourth grade Social Studies and Science TEKS and focused on native Texan animals. Each student chose a Texas animal, and we learned how to draw a recognizable silhouette of that animal. Then students carefully cut out the silhouette and glued it to brown paper. Students added one or two X-ray drawings on their animals, showing either bones or interior organs. The fun part began when students painted dots with sticks, much like the Aboriginal artists did and currently do. We discussed their use of concentric circle designs in their dot paintings, then added a few into our own. The results are stunning!