Cuttlefish art project idea

Purpose of activity:

To appreciate how good cuttlefish are at camouflage

Description:

Students paint a white paper cuttlefish to match a printed background

Target age group:

Any age

Time allowance:

20-30 minutes

Materials needed:

Printed background pages of coral reefs, white paper for cuttlefish (can print and use pattern page below if you want to), clear plastic of some kind, glue sticks, scissors, various art supples– watercoor, colored pencil, acrylics, or whatever you want to use

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Have students draw their own cuttlefish on a white piece of paper (card stock is better if you are using paints) and cut it out. (They can do more than one cuttlefish, too.)

2) Place a piece of clear plastic wrap (or any kind of clear plastic such as a transparency) on top of the photo so it will not get messy.

3) Position the blank cuttlefish somewhere on the reef picture, and then paint it to blend in with the background. The clear plastic will keep the paint from getting on the picture while still allowing you to see the background so you can match the colors.  (You will notice in the samples that you pretty can’t go wrong on this project. In fact, if the colors don’t match precisely, it almost enhances the attractiveness of the picture.)

4) When the cuttlefish is dry, remove the plastic and then glue the cuttlefish in place on the page. Glue sticks are fine for this.

Click here for pattern page of cuttlefish

(The pattern page does not have any instructions, only cuttlefish patterns.)