My fifth graders loved this project this year. Depending when their birthdays fell,
many of them are dragons according to the Chinese Zodiac. I found some great photos on Flickr of real Chinese New Year celebrations around the world for a Smartboard presentation. The colors and textures of the REAL Dragon Dances in China were very motivating to my students!
The heads and feet were drawn first with pencil and outlined with black tempera. Then colored with oil pastels. I encouraged their own COLOR SCHEME and demonstrated BLENDING ANALOGOUS COLORS. The bodies were made with banner papers painted weeks before to use up some old paint. I cut them into 9x12 inch pieces. Students added some swirls of color if desired and painted black fish like scales. Heads and feet were cut out carefully and glued to the bodies. The final touch was to add some texture with the tissue paper strips. I displayed these with some 2nd grade Chinese lanterns. A crowd pleaser!!!
