Paper Birds


Minnesota K-3 Visual Art Standards Used in This Lesson:

  • 1. Identify the elements of visual art including Color, line, shape, Form, Value, texture and space.

  • 2. Identify the tools, materials and techniques from a variety of two- and three-dimensional media such as drawing, printmaking, ceramics or sculpture.

  • 3. Identify the characteristics of visual artworks from a variety of cultures including the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribes and communities.

  • 4. Create original two- and three- dimensional artworks to express ideas, experiences or stories.


    • Additional Tie-ins

  • Cutting Skills
  • Following Directions
  • Gluing Skills

    • The class discusses Line and Form as elements of art. The teacher demonstrates on the board how a line can be made to have three-dimentional form by adding more lines lines to it.

    Next a piece of paper is cut and curled so that the 2-d surface of the paper now has 3-d form.

    Finally students are shown how the 2-d paper pieces of our assignment are assembled into a 3-d Bird shape. Wiggly eyes are added to make the bird more fun.

    The students learn that sharing is important because they trade beak colors. Every student has to give their neighbor the beak they cut out so that each bird has a different colored beak.

    (These would look really cool hanging from the ceiling in school but I've heard that the motion detectors would "see" them and they would set off our alarm system.)