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Learning Experience/Unit

Lascaux Cave Art by ECSDM


Subject

The Arts (1996)

Grade Levels

Elementary, 3rd Grade


Description

This is a third grade art lesson (which is adaptable for all grade levels) that will allow students to explore the caves of Lascaux. In addition to learning about the caves, children will create their own cave drawings. Students will utilize different shapes to draw their animals. The children will also learn about blending and that they can use their fingers as blending tools.

Duration:

The lesson will consist of three class periods, 45-minutes each.

Step-by-Step Procedures


Day 1:

  1. Students will learn about the history of the Lascaux Caves in France by taking a virtual tour of the Lascaux Caves on the SMART Board (The first picture in slide 1 in the SMART Notebook file will take you to the Lascaux Caves website. SMART Notebook and pdf file can be found in the materials section).
  2. Students will then answer questions on slide two (students will write their responses on the SMART Board).
  3. We will then review slide three. After reviewing slide three, students will watch a drawing demonstration using shapes. The teacher will go over the picture images on slide five with a SMART Board marker to break each animal into shapes. Create the animal drawing using the shapes of each animal next to the images. For example, "What shape is the horse's head?" Students should recognize the shape as a triangle when you outline the horses head with the SMART Board marker. Repeat this process for each part of the animals. After drawing each animal, compare the body sizes. For example, "Is the horse's head bigger or smaller than the bison's head?" Have students come up to the SMART Board to create some of the shapes found in the animals.
  4. Students will be instructed to draw three animals, specifically a bison, stag, and horse, by looking at the animal handout (handout included in the materials section) and breaking them down into shapes. Students will be instructed to draw their three animals large so that they fill up the entire page.

Day 2:

  1. Students will watch a blending demonstration.
  2. Students will be instructed to blend the oil pastels by using their fingers as a tool.
  3. Students will only blend the head and body of their animals and just color in their legs.
  4. After students watch the demo they will continue working on their drawings. In the demo, place three colors side by side in two sections of a piece of paper. With your finger, go over the parts where the color touches another color. For example, if you are blending black and brown, you should see black, brownish-black, and brown. After you show them the right way, take your finger and go over all of the colors together. For example, if you go over brown and black you would only have one mixed color. Tell them that their goal is to create more colors by blending the three colors they are given.
  5. Once they finish drawing all three animals, they may create the colors of their animals by using blending techniques.

Day 3:

  1. Students will continue their blending and then tear the outside edges off of their papers.
  2. When they have finished, they will crumple up their pages and then unfold their papers. Students are told that we are crumpling our papers so that some of our oil pastels smear. We will do this to make our paper look older. Students will then respond to each other's artwork in a short critique for the last 10 minutes of class.

Website(s)

The Cave of Lascaux

Learning Objectives

  • Students will learn that the Caves of Lascaux were created over 17,000 years ago in France by cavemen.
  • Students will learn that cavemen created these paintings of animals that they hunted.
  • Students will learn that the cave paintings are composed of humans, symbols, and animals.
  • Students will learn how to draw these animals using shapes.
  • Students will use blending to create their animals.
  • Students will create a composition that looks as if it came from Lascaux.

Materials

  • Torn Brown Paper (paper bag)
  • White, Black, and Brown Oil Pastels
  • Pencil
  • Images taken from the Lascaux Caves
  • World Map
  • SMART Board set-up and attached SMART Notebook Lesson
  • Smart_board_lesson[1].notebook
  • Lascaux Caves.pdf
  • Lascaux Cave Handout.doc

    • Vocabulary

    • Caves of Lascaux- History, discovery, and background
    • Paleolithic- Related to the earliest period of The Stone Age
    • Extinct-No longer exists
    • Ibex, Auroch, Stag- Animal images found in the caves
    • Blending- The mixing of colors

    Assessment


    O Students created three or more large animals, animals are large and drawn very well using the shapes they were taught, and are blended together so that you can see all of the colors clearly.

    S+ Students created three large animals that are drawn well using the shapes that they were taught and colors are blended together so that the colors can be seen clearly.

    S Students created three animals and drew their animals satisfactory or over blended colors so that only one color is created.

    S- Student may or may not have created three animals or did not blend their colors.

    N Student did not draw three animals or blend their colors

    (Outstanding, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement)


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