Painted Trees inspired by "Where's the Elephant?"

 

Elephant, snake and bird live in a beautiful jungle. Then someone starts cutting down trees and soon their home is destroyed. This book uses colorful, whimsical illustrations to make kids think about the effects of deforestation.

Artists in grades K-4 read "Where is the Elephant," by Barroux and discussed the author's message.  Then we used Sharpie markers and liquid watercolor paint to create many different types of trees inspired by the illustrations in the book. To inspire our tree paintings we went outdoors to observe our surroundings and used the inspiration guide below.  This reminds us that there is no "right way" to draw a tree.  Our bulletin board also features a hiding elephant, snake and parrot, just like the book.