A Batty Art Project

I'm sure you know some children that are fascinated by bats! 

After reading a great information book by one of my favorite non-fiction authors, I wanted to do a fun art project to help the children remember what they learned!

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of "cookie cutter" art projects that all look alike. I like to give the children an opportunity to be creative and make something unique. 

We started by making a night scene with crayons.

Then we added a watercolor wash.

The kids loved how the crayons came through the watercolor!

It's amazing the effect paint has on a class of kids.  Suddenly all chatting stops and they are totally engrossed in what they're doing.

Of course, some classical music in the background inspires the creativity!

Now, please tell me why aren't I bring out the paints more often?

I was tempted to give them a pattern to follow for the bats, but when I looked at photos of bats in the night sky, you really couldn't make out a specific shape. I gave each child a piece of black construction paper and they developed their own technique for making the bats.

The results were spectacular!

Each child wrote a fact they remembered from the book, and these are displayed with the pictures. 

These kids are amazing!

Here's a fun resource that might be a good source for your Facts About Bats!

 

This resource is part of a bigger October resource with more fun Science and Social Studies activities:

Or try this Life Cycles set:

Or this Boom Learning resource:

Or go for the bundle of all three bats themed resources:

I'm thinking I'll be reading this book real soon! 
I love comparing fiction books to non-fiction!

 

 

Here are a couple more informational books about bats that might interest your students.