Within Indian culture elephants are highly treasured. Painted elephants are common at celebrations and festivals and make their appearace across many Indian art forms. You can complete this art project with any symbol of India, but the elephant makes for a stunning result.
Materials:
- Elephant Template
- Black Construction Paper
- White Sand or Fine Glitter
- Sequins, Glue, Paintbrush
Suggested Resources for a Unit Study:
Art Project Tutorial:
Step 1
Print your elephant template and cut out the center to make a stencil
Step 2
Trace your stencil onto a piece of black construction paper
Step 3
Outline your shape with glue
Step 4
Using your paintbrush, pull the glue towards the center of the elephant
Step 5
You’ll need to work quickly as the glue will start to dry as it is thinned out
Step 6
Pour sand or white glitter over your glue
Step 7
Pour off the excess and save for later. You are left with a really wonderful elephant on your paper!
Step 8
Use glue to add a rectangular shape for a blanket over your elephant
Step 9
Glue sequins onto the blanket
Step 10
You can stratigically place your sequins with a stripe at the bottom, then fading into more white and clear sequins toward the top.
Optional
If you have enough sequins, you might let children decorate their entire elephant for a stunning piece of art.
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[…] Activity 3: Elephants are a highly treasured animal in India, but they aren’t the same elephants you’ll learn about in our Savana Unit later in the year. These are Indian elephants! Watch this brief video to learn the difference between the two, and then make this beautiful Indian elephant craft. […]