BEYE Discovery: Iconic Animals of the Halloween Season: Crows, Owls, Moths and Spiders!

Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director

Heidi

Halloween is just around the corner and we suspected it would be fun to focus our attention on some "seasonal" creatures that earn the limelight this time of year. Thanks to the Field Museum's "Harris Learning Collection" exhibit cases and experience boxes, we were joined in the classroom by a crow, 3 owls, 12 moths and 2 spiders. We closely observed these animals throughout the week to further develop our drawing skills, paying close attention to line, shape, form and color.

Crow

We also learned important facts about these animals through some terrific book sources. On Monday, we read Laurence Pringle's "Crows! Strange and Wonderful". We discovered that crows are highly intelligent and can make their own tools; that they use language; and that they can also mimic other bird calls as well as sounds, such as a squeaky door or a puppy's yelp. Crows are also playful and are part of a cooperative family, in which previous generations help to guard the nest or to bring food to the new baby crows.

Xantal

To begin our lesson, we warmed up with a fun blind contour drawing exercise, looking at the specimen only (and not our paper) as we drew steady, deliberate lines, moving our drawing hand in synch with the path of our eyes, as we followed the specimen's contours. We encouraged students to consider both the outer and inner contour lines of each animal to capture more detail. I wish I had taken photos of the blind contour drawings: the students were quite successful and their work really demonstrates how the hand and eye can work closely together!

After the students' success with blind contours, we then moved onto to contour line drawings, allowing the children to view their paper as they drew. The children's drawings of the specimens show much care and attention to detail ~ please take a look at their work in the photos above and below. Also, do stay tuned as all the drawings from this week will soon be exhibited on the wall outside the main office : )