Cave Art Comes Alive

This week during our teacher candidate lessons, we created cave art using crumpled paper bags and colored "mud paint" using dirt, powder tempera, and water. We started the lesson by talking about a favorite memory we had growing up and how that memory was recorded. We discussed that events were recorded thousands of years ago by cave and rock paintings using elements in nature. To create our cave painting, we used our fingers to scoop up the mud paint and applied it to the paper bag. We were encouraged to mix colors and use a variety of the colors of mud paint to create our cave painting. Once our painting was finished, we went in groups to discuss how we created our paintings and how we felt when creating it.

For an extension activity, the students could create a cave painting as if they lived in the prehistoric time period, not related to a favorite memory. Once the students are finished with their painting, at random, the teacher could hand out a cave painting to each student so everyone has one at their desk. The students will use creative thinking to write a short story of one of their classmates cave painting. At the end of the week each student will be able to read their short story about the cave painting and then the real event will be identified from the original painter.

My favorite memory consisted of going up to Alexandria, Minnesota and visiting my grandparents at their lake cabin. Here is a picture of my cave painting: