CITYSCAPE MURAL COLLAGE
by Barbara Sonek

GRADES 3-7

All children can create. All children are artists. This beginning of the year project makes all children become a part of a whole, as they learn that team work produces something beautiful. Even the child that says he/she can't draw produces something of beauty.

This is a mural that requires some preparation and creativity on the part of the teacher, but the results are spectacular!

MATERIALS

• 2 sheets of dark blue or black construction paper: 36x48
• masking tape
• white drawing paper
• markers or crayons
• magazines
• glue sticks
• scissors
• glitter

DIRECTIONS

• Select famous landmarks from your metropolitan area.
• Ask the students for volunteers to draw each of those landmarks (accuracy is not important)
• Other students draw buildings, people, cars, airplanes, etc. Have students do more than one drawing to get a city feel. (Some of my students used newspapers and cut out building shapes. The type made it look like windows).
• After the buildings are completed have students look through magazines for photos of real cars that can be incorporated into the mural.
• Let their imaginations soar! They can use the markers and the crayons to color in their buildings and the other components of the mural.
• When they are done coloring they cut out the pieces, making sure that each child puts their name on it where it can be seen.

Now it is up to the teacher's imagination. I did one with my class and holding the paper horizontally, put in a big strip of blue construction paper representing the East River (we did the Manhattan skyline). We lined up the buildings with some of them overlapping to give a feeling of the city viewed from across the river. We then put boats in the water, and cars riding along the shore. Then we took the glue and glitter and made fireworks in the sky. All of the work was done by the students including the Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor. The principal liked it so much that it was placed in the school lobby for the entire year!

The same type of project can be done with an undersea theme, country/rural scene, futuristic cityscape, etc.

Lesson plan courtesy of Barabara Sonek
Homepage: Barbara's World Tour