Bioluminescent creature stuffed animals

 

 

 

Our next project we worked on for over 2 months but we covered SO much! Since we had previously worked with how we could make art with light, I thought it would be interesting to explore living organisms that are bioluminescent-which means they create their own light. We watched videos, read excerpts from articles and discussed bioluminescence. The kids broke into groups and each completed a mini-research assignment on a specific bioluminescent organism.

 

After I felt like they had a good grasp on why an organism would use bioluminescence to survive in it's environment, I gave them brainstorming worksheets to invent a creature that could make it's own light. The creature had to use the light to survive somewhere on earth- sky, air or land.

 

They sketched and planned their creatures and then I gave them two pieces of fabric. They drew their creature on one fabric and then traced a mirror image onto the second fabric.

 

Now the fun part began ;). I stocked up on a bunch of glow in the dark paint and between turning the lights off and on we painted our creatures over the next couple of weeks. Listening to them get so excited when they saw the glowing areas on their creatures was wonderful! They had worked so hard to plan and execute their pieces. Next I just needed to teach them how to sew so we could turn them into stuffed animals ;).

 

Light Drawing self assessment

 

After our light drawing sessions I printed out a few photographs for each child to keep. As they studied their photographs we talked about what they thought and how the images turned out. I asked them to answer 4 questions for me as a reflection. I started with just asking them to describe the project and the type of lights that they used. Then they were asked to explain their feelings about making light drawings and if they did this again, what they would change. I loved reading their ideas and feelings toward the project!