Artist of the Month: James Audubon

Audubon can be a little tricky! I think many adults think he is too detailed, intricate or delicate. However, I think Audubon is a great artist for a unit study in the early spring, and can be paired with observational science activities, language materials and more! Children can learn how to draw birds, and they absolutely love looking at field guides and coloring in pages. You can find gorgeous Audubon coloring books for sale, or download individual sheets. Feather painting, cutting, felt bird sewing, and more are coming soon!

I used the two pictures featured above with and placed them with watercolor pencils. I limited the color palette to colors in the original Audubon print. I also placed a set of these Audubon bookmarks on the shelf next to them just for exploration.

Book Recommendations:

A field guide like this is a MUST. They can be picked up for under 5$ used. You want some books with real pictures of birds especially if you don't have an outdoor space where you can have bird feeders or real life bird observation.

This book is an amazing biography focused on how Audubon got his start! You can use this to go right into one of the special projects listed towards the end of this posting. I got a copy from the library but it's also available on amazon.com

We used a field reference to create individual pieces with over the course of spring. This was after about 6 months of easel and paint mixing work, but if your kids are older (4-6) this kind of coloring and paint mixing is absolutely possible! The children were excited to pick their own bird, and they often spent a whole work cycle on one of these masterpieces

Shelf Activity 1:

Have the child pick a bird from a field guide.

Ask him, what colors are his feather? The child can then decorate the feather using crayons, pencils or watercolor (my preference). If they have more advanced scissor skills, they can cut the feather out, if they are a beginner with the scissors they can cut the "ridges" of the feather with simple single stroke cuts. You can draw your own feather outlines or download and print mine here.

Shelf/Easel Activity 2: Bird Coloring/Cutting/Tracing

A simple bird outline like these peace doves I made up can be used for coloring, cutting, painting and tracing activities (if cut out of cardboard or thick foam). I think simple shapes are important and give room for the children's imagination. Plain paper and tracing paper should definitely be on the shelf as well as there should always be freedom for children to create art off theme!

You can also set this up for gluing by adding loose parts like sequins or tissue papers onto a tray with it. Simple shapes are so flexible!

Shelf Activity 3:

Create an Audubon magnify game and have them really examine the art! They can match the small details on the left to the larger canary picture as they hunt to find them. I'll be uploading this one soon.

Shelf Activity 4

You can buy one of these rubbing plates here. These are great and come in almost every theme imaginable. The clipboard really helps children control the plate and keep everything still.

A few more ideas:

--Trace and paint the bird puzzle.

--Paint with feathers instead of brushes.

--Dye or paint eggs

--Use bird feet to make impressions in clay