Recording Texture with Crayon Rubbings
About this lesson
Children lay scrap paper over different classroom surfaces and rub with the side of a crayon to capture each surface's texture. They then describe the patterns using texture words like rough, bumpy and smooth. It takes about 15 minutes and needs only scrap paper and crayons.
- Grade
- 2
- Subject
- Art
- Time
- 15 min
- Prep
- 2 min
Objective
Students will capture the textures of four different surfaces with crayon rubbings and describe each one using a texture word.
Prep
2 min: peel the paper wrappers off some crayons so they can be used on their sides
Materials
- scrap paper (one sheet per child)
- crayons, some with wrappers removed
Steps
- Ask children to touch their desk, their sleeve and the floor, then explain that texture is how a surface feels and that artists can show it in pictures.
- Demonstrate by holding scrap paper flat on a textured surface, such as a book cover or a bulletin board, and rubbing the flat side of a crayon across it until a pattern appears.
- Have children fold their paper into four boxes and make a rubbing of a different classroom surface in each box, using a new colour each time.
- Partners swap papers, guess where each rubbing came from, and say one texture word for each box, such as bumpy, rough, smooth or lined.
- Invite a few children to hold up their favourite rubbing and name its texture for the class.
Quick Check
Point to one child's rubbing and ask them to name the texture and which surface made it.
Differentiation
Make it easier: Choose three textured surfaces in advance and have the whole class rub the same ones together.
Make it harder: Ask children to draw a simple animal outline and fill different parts of it with rubbings that match how that part would feel.
Good For
- Before lunch
- End of day
- Supply teacher
- Early finishers
