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!!!