Prehistoric Painters



Detail from Caves in Lascaux, France



Jesus experimented with various drawing materials as he drew his own version of cave art.

Kimani's Stampede



Jack's Horses with one Buffalo

 The first grade students are beginning a unit on art of different cultures.  They will be studying the art of India as their classroom prepares for the early childhood multicultural celebration in December.  I began their cultures unit with a look at prehistoric art.  This gave them the chance to think about how long people have been making art, and it also posed the question of why people make art.  The students discussed their ideas about art's origins, and then we looked at pictures from the caves in Lascaux, France.  These paintings are over 17,000 years old, and they tell us about the lives of people who painted them.  The students played "I spy" and found people, horses, buffalo, deer and cows.  They talked about the colors they saw and how prehistoric people could have made paint.  Here are a few examples of what they were able to create after learning about the caves.  They experimented with pastels, charcoal, crayons and chalk.  It was fun to hear their thoughts and ideas as we investigated these caves.