Third Grade Prehistoric Cave Art

 Third Grade students are learning about Prehistoric Cave Art.  We looked specifically at the Lascaux Cave in France.  We saw parts of a video about the cave, read a book, and looked at still photos of the cave art to study which animals the prehistoric people chose to draw. We talked about how the people mixed paint and what tools they used to paint or draw on the cave walls.

Next, we practiced drawing four different animals in the prehistoric style.  Students added natural colors like in the cave art: browns, tans, blacks, and whites.  Student chose their best idea and cut it out to add to a textured background.

The backgrounds were made by adding texture through a texture rubbing.  This texture can be seen, but not really felt, so it is an implied texture.  Students then created an real texture that could be both seen and felt by carefully crunching the paper to crinkle it.  Last, students used charcoal sticks to draw ancient cave symbols around their animals.  Students were excited about using a material like the Prehistoric artists did!