Out of the jungle and into the forest...
Good morning! We are not stepping too far away from the rainforest and jungles that we visited yesterday, but we are heading back up to the Northern Hemisphere as we journey into the forests of America and Europe. We might even take a little trip into an enchanted forest… I absolutely love forest life, so I am excited about this one…
In the UK, we tend to call our Forests, “woodlands”, and our woodland animals include rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, owls, deer, hares, mice, song birds and all kinds of insects… in North America and some other European countries the wildlife extends to bears, wolves, beavers, lynxes, armadillos, racoons, porcupines, jackals, reindeer, and even moose! Oh my – what a lot! What is your favourite animal forest animal?
Warm Up Activities - Cardboard Animals
Today our warm activity is to make some lovely woodland or forest animals from cardboard. I have three ideas for you to choose from, or perhaps you could come up with something else?
I love the simple style of the animals that stand up, with just a touch of white on them to show the details. I love the paper trees too. You can find this craft here – the instructions are in French, but they are easy to follow by looking at the pictures!
The toilet roll animals from Molly Moo Crafts are super cute, and really easy to make. What other animals could you add to the two shown?
The cardboard collaged owl is a great idea for any age, and you can use any materials you have lying around at home! Again, you don’t just have to make an owl – pick your favourite forest animal and have a go!
Artist Inspiration - Norval Morrisseau and Henri Rousseau
We could continue to look at Henri Rousseau today, as his paintings work so well for Forests of all kind, so if you didn’t manage to look at the Rousseau activities yesterday, no worries, you can transfer them to today! If you did do the activities yesterday, revise them today, but with a woodland theme.
If you want to explore another artist, have a look at Norval Morrisseau’s woodland animal paintings… he takes the anatomy of animals and uses an almost cave painting style, but with bold, pop-art like colours and lines. In fact, it reminds me a little of the Tingatinga Art and Romero Britto – do you see the patterns and lines inside the shapes of the animals? Here are some of his images to inspire you…
Drawing Workshop
For our drawing workshop, I am going to divert you back to Love to Draw Things again, as they have some super tutorials. I especially love the forest bear – my son had a go at this yesterday and he did such a great job! Click the images to get a larger image! Oh, look, a magical toadstool even managed to sneak in….
Lunchtime Viewing...
This is a fantastic short animation about the importance of home… I’d say its a PG, so if you have very young children you may want to watch it first and decide if its suitable… (if it’s not, check out the amazing Animals of Farthing Wood below…)
See you after lunch for some outside adventures journal prompts and a couple of other bits and bobs to round up our day…
