Explore Color and Texture with this Hippopotamus Craft!
By Kayla • April 3, 2018
This vibrant work of art will most likely take your students a few class periods to create, but it will be well worth the work!
Step 1: Create Painted Paper
This project is designed to make use of many different textures. For the hippo's head, begin by painting a square of craft paper light gray, then once it's dry, follow with a darker gray sponge paint technique. For the lily pads, use watercolor paper and paint to create a 'tie dyed' pattern using different shades of green and yellow. Flowers can be completed the same way using shades of red, pink, and purple. Step 2: Create the Background
Laura, elementary art teacher and creator of the blog Paintedpaper, suggests using apple trays (i.e. when turned upside down their grooves look like waves). Use a combination of blue and purple to create the look of water, then green and yellow to add some vines.
Step 3: Design Paper Accents
From the dried painted paper, outline and cut out the head of a hippo, using craft paper and Crayola washable markers to add accents like eyes, the inside of the ears, and a nose. Create lily pads and flowers as well, using a green marker to add veins to the lily pads if desired.
Step 4: Design the Final Piece
Once all of these elements have been created, it's time to put everything together. Check out Laura's website for some great examples!
About the Author
Kayla Johnson
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