From Hansel and Gretel’s walk through the woods to the woodsy home of The Three Bears in Goldilocks, the forest plays a key role in many of the most famous fairy tales. Perhaps it’s the lack of visibility, creating that terrible lost feeling. Or maybe it’s that anything could happen in the magical woods, where reality is somewhat suspended. Whatever the reason, the forest seems to be the setting of many of our favorite childhood stories.
Our Fairy Tale Forest project brings treasured tales to life in amazing 3-D, using watercolors and modeling clay to add dimension to scenes from these beloved stories. This cross-curricular project also blends art and literature and opens a dialogue about the elements of story—characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution.
Students begin by choosing a tale with a forest setting and sketching a scene including three key elements from the story. For example, a piece focused on Little Red Riding Hood might include the woods, the red cape, and the big, bad wolf. After an initial sketch, your artists will lightly transfer their scenes onto illustration board and press colored clay to areas where they’d like to add dimension. The rest of the scene is painted in watercolor and the whole piece varnished for shine. The finished project is a 3-D homage to one of the most frequent fairy tale settings—the woods.
Download a complete lesson plan for this project, including images, step-by-step directions, and a materials list, today!
For Grades 3-8.
