I've done this activity with children from ages 6-13 and it is a really easy one for all learners to experience success. You can pull out or focus on different ideas depending on your learners.
These ideas include:
-Colour (you may want to limit the amount of colours students use or focus on warm/cold colours)
-Texture
-Foreground and Background
-Symmetry
-Shape
You need:
Black coloured card or paper (or any dark coloured paper)
Plain white copy or printer paper
Crayons or water colour paints or pencils or pastels. (We used pastels)
Glue stick
Scissors
Mirror (if possible)
1) Show an example. You are welcome to use a picture from this page.
2) Ask what the students can see in the picture.
3) Ask them what it reminds them of (hopefully they will say city!)
4) Ask them how they think it was made.
5) Give each student a pre folded piece of paper. Tell the students the fold line is the bottom of their page for the moment.
6) Have students draw a background. As this is going to be symmetrical you may want to limit the number of colours the student is allowed to use.
7) Have the child make the background
8) Give the child the black card. Say that this is for the buildings. Talk about how buildings are different sizes and shapes. Students can cut out the buildings and place them on their page. Allow them time to try different positions for their buildings before gluing onto the page.
9) Talk about how you are now going to make a mirror image and put shadows on the picture, just like how buildings look at night with the moon or city lights.
10) Use the mirror to show what a mirror image will look like. Ask the student to first make the mirror image of the background and then the background. I use the mirror to show the child what it will look like:
11) Use a crayon or pencil to make the shadows.
This student didn't quite get the symmetry of the activity, however you can still see they experienced great success!
We used the left over scraps as part of our "scraps and cats" art and craft activity.