I’m a little bit fascinated with birds lately. I’ve been wanting to do an art project with them, so I went to the library to get some bird books. My vision was to have the kids choose a bird, read about it a little, draw it on a colored piece of paper, and then use one color to paint the bird. The lesson would be about observing and the word monochromatic.
But things didn’t go as planned (the never quite do). It turns out that drawing birds is hard. Especially for kids who want their drawings to look perfect. My oldest daughter (the teen) ended up in tears and stomped to her room saying birds are stupid. After some deep breaths and a visit to her room, I changed my lesson plan. I decided that I would draw the birds and have the kids paint them. This was a much better idea. Peace returned to the house.
After the kids painted in the birds I drew for them, I decided to give it a try. It occurred to me that maybe this project would be as fun, if not more fun, for grownups! I hear from my friends all the time that they are not artistic and I’m always trying to convince them that this is not true…they just need to practice and build their confidence (like writing or cooking). I got so excited by this concept of bird “coloring pages” that I decided to create four printables for you!
All you need is some construction paper (cut down to 8.5” x 11”), tempera paints, brushes, and some containers to mix your paint.
Here are the four bird coloring pages to download (plus the book pages to observe):
book pages – {use these to observe while painting}
My idea to have the kids draw birds was too challenging and I learned my lesson. This art project was more about a “product” than about experimenting with materials, and this became stressful rather than fun. We do lots of open-ended painting in our house that is all about pushing the paint around on the paper and mixing colors. It is stress free and fun for them (I don’t often photograph these days).
But sometimes it’s nice to have a product; something to frame and hang on the wall. I hope you will try these yourself! If you do, please let me know how it all goes (hopefully no crying about stupid birds for you).
xo Bar
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Absolutely gorgeous photos. Even better creations. Your children are very skilled artists! Thanks so much for the simple crafting idea ;) Jeanine
you are very welcome, jeanine! i’m so glad you like this little art project… i hope you were able to paint some birds. xo bar
PS– thank you for making it SOO much easier for readers by sharing with us the free-printable attachment ;) ;) ;) Otherwise, it would’ve taken me weeks to get to the library LOL!
This is soo extremely cute! Thank you for this inspiration, my kids love painting!
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Oh Thank you so much! I´ll try to paint the birds.
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