Hidden Animal Artwork

Description: For this activity we created a fun “hidden” animal piece. We started by constructing super special ruby red glasses to help us see our animals in the finished product. We then used the technique of looking at an image upside down to draw our safari animals. This drawing must be done in a light blue colored pencil for the “hidden” effect to work! I decided to draw a monkey for my project. Once your animal is complete, you then use warm colors to hide your animal. The whole idea is that when you look at the picture with your red glasses on, they will cancel out all of the warm colors and you will then be able to clearly see the animal drawn in the cool color blue! I also included a notecard on the bottom of the frame with three clues about my animal. 

Extension Activity: I think a really cool way you could use this concept is as a getting to know you activity for the beginning of the school year. Students would be asked to draw 4-5 things they enjoy or that could help the class learn more about them. For example, I might draw a dog, an ice cream cone, a hammer, and some weights. All of theses things represent me or what I love to do! Once they draw their items in the blue colored pencil, they will then “hide” them with the warm colors. Students will then write hints about each of their items to put on the frame. The whole class can then display their “hidden identity” artwork around the room. Each student will walk around and use their “special red glasses” to learn more about their classmates!