Have you ever noticed the amazing patterns found in the animal world? Animal inspired art is based on these beautiful patterns.

Actually, until I stopped to look, I hadn’t realised how much black is included in these patterns.

The Objective of Animal Inspired Art

• To encourage children to look at the wide variety of patterns found in the natural world and to use them in an art project

Materials Required For Animal Inspired Art

• Paper
• Black texters
• Paint or water-colour pencils
• Photos of animals showing different camouflage patterns and markings

The “How To” of Animal Inspired Art

First, we talked about the patterns we could see in the photos and came up with as many describing words as we could (e.g., stripy, spotty, etc.). This enabled us to focus on language as part of the activity.

Next we drew circles by tracing around a lid.

This provided an opportunity to exercise coordination and problem-solving skills as well as to develop special awareness. It takes a bit of practise to hold something still and trace around it.

The idea was to reproduce the patterns, seen on animals, inside the circles.

The next step involved choosing a pattern to draw.

To make the job easier, an egg ring was introduced to try and focus attention on one part of the pattern as opposed to the whole animal.

Finally, it was time to draw.

While I love the black and white versions of this art, some of the patterns were also coloured.

This process of Animal Inspired Art was fun and the end products, I think, are beautiful.

It’s amazing how wonderfully beautiful the world around us has been created. Looking at the patterns found in animals is definitely an inspiration for art!

You may also like these activities:

Drawing Nature

Doddle Dice

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