Art in Science-Creating a Unique Ocean Bulletin Board

Leading into a unit on the ocean, I covered my large bulletin board with paper resembling ocean water. Loved the peacefulness, enjoyed the Melissa and Doug puzzle, but now it was time for the kids to have personal input into the board.

The first step in our multi-step process involved making the paper for the board. I gave every student a piece of beige colored cardstock. Without telling them why, they chose paints in colors they enjoyed and painted a design that they liked. I didn't give them input or outcome because I wanted them to be free with their designs and not think ahead. 

Once they had finished their papers, this is what it looked like:

I gave each child their paper back. I also gave them a piece of black cardstock. The first instruction was to cut fish out of the paper. They made templates from white copy paper and traced them on to the back of the painted paper; then they cut out the fish. 

I asked them to glue them on to the black paper in groups of three or five. They came out cute.

These were so cute and could be used to turn our room into more of an aquarium. When this project was done, I had them cut out one more fish and show me where they wanted it to be in our ocean.  

Now there was one more step to make our ocean area complete. Watch for my next post to see some absolutely amazing student art work!!!

Ocean Scenery-The Beginnings of an Ocean View

Four years (or so) have passed since I have done an ocean study. This year, I wanted to do it differently. I started off with a beautiful background of the ocean. My loving husband helped me hang the paper which was too wide and too long for my huge bulletin board. For days, I left it blank because the paper, all by itself, made me feel peaceful and content. As my students entered the classroom, they all remarked on how much they loved the bulletin board. This is the beginning:

Covering the board took a little work. First, my students put together a giant ocean scenery puzzle full of fish-from Melissa and Doug. (I am not an affiliate for them-in fact, I got mine for $3.99 at our local Goodwill!) I covered the puzzle with a sealer and rested it on the bulletin board by resting it on plastic stick pins and surrounding the puzzle with them. 

Future additions included two art projects. One of them they did at home. The other they did at school. Tomorrow I will share the cool art project my students did to make really fun fish for the board outside of the puzzle!