Cave Art Comes Alive

Mud Paint Art Project

This art project was to introduce 2^nd grade students to storytelling through art. The lesson was related to the different methods used to pass down history (ideas, information, etc. ) through the ages of human existence. To reinforce the lesson of recording history, each student created a cave painting of one of their favorite childhood memories. For instance, one of my favorite childhood memories was playing on hay or straw bales/stacks during the summer with my friends. I painted a farm scene which included a stack of hay bales and on which me and my friends are seen playing. Here is my cave painting:

Materials needed:

·         Paper bags

·         Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow mud paint

·         Mud

·         Tempera

The steps to create a cave painting are as follows:

1.       Have the students come up with one of their favorite childhood memory that they would like to record.

2.       Find a large, brown paper bag (grocery bag) and cut out a piece that is approximately 20” X 12” from either the front or the back side of the bag (the back if it contains a store label).

3.       Crumple the bag into a ball until you get the desired texture—you want it to look like rock.

4.       Make some mud paint. Mix real mud (yes, real mud) with tempera and paint. Choose common colors like blue, red, green, or blue paints to create you mud paint since, in the prehistoric times, they didn’t have the variety of colors we do today. When I made my cave painting, the mud paint lacked the color it was supposed to have; for instance, my straw bales were not quite as yellow as I wanted them to be because my mud paint did not have enough yellow paint. Be sure to mix enough paint to get the desired color you want but not so much paint that it loses its prehistoric look.

5.       Create a cave painting by painting with your fingers. Be sure to have wet towels available to wipe your fingers when you want to use different paints in your painting.

6.       To include texture, have the students include different types of texture like pine needles, leaves, twigs, or other plant materials in their painting.

7.       When finished painting a picture of your favorite childhood memory, let the painting dry before you display it.

8.       Have the students write a short reflection about their favorite childhood memory to display alongside their painting.

Painting with mud was a new and unique experience for me and any 2nd grader will do this project with delight. I enjoyed painting with mud--the mud paint has a nice texture and is easy to work with. It is surprising how good the painting looks when it dries.

Extension activity: When studying a science unit or lesson that deals with animals that have already extinct, the students could do a cave painting art project about an animal that is extinct (for instance, the dinosaur or mammoth). The teacher could have the students write a short description of their animal such as its diet, its habitat, and in what era it lived upon the earth. The short description could be displayed with the cave painting. The cave painting would not only reinforce the media they used to record history but it would also correlate to the time era in which the animal became extinct.