If I Were an Animal

If you could have an animal body, what creature would you be? Why? Draw your dream and then spin a tale about your adventures.

• 1.

  Choose an animal! What animal characteristic would you like to experience? Would you run like the wind on four legs? Or fly over your house with strong wings? Or swim to ocean depths using your flippers and tail? Use your imagination to dream up a new way of seeing your head combined with an animal, fish, or bird body.

• 2.

  Use Crayola® Color Switchers™ Markers to fill in the background first.

• 3.

  Flip the Marker and apply the special color switcher to create interesting and zany features to your nonsense creature.

• 4.

  Write an imaginative story. With Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils, write a creative story about your adventures. Tell where you live and what you eat. Do you pal around with your old friends?

Benefits

• Students choose a favorite animal and identify its prominent characteristics such as fins and a tail, four sturdy legs, or strong wings.
• Students draw their favorite animals, adding their own heads to animal bodies.
• Students write a creative, detailed short story about themselves as a nonsense creature.

Adaptations

• Create animal or insect mix-up books. Draw several animals on the same size paper. Lay one on top of the other and staple them together. Cut through all the pictures, dividing the animals into sections of heads, abdomens, and feet. Flip sections to change
• Students with special needs may prefer to look at animal pictures and in mirrors when making their drawings. Some may benefit from talking about their stories with an adult to help them think through the implications of an imaginary body.