Paper Bag Walrus Collage

I love to do animal collages with my classes. This walrus was created using a rectangle from a brown paper grocery bag. Open up the bag completely. Each bag will give you 2 rectangles. First we did a direct line drawing of the walrus head in pencil. We went over our lines in permanent marker or oil pastel. I had the children make lots of folds and wrinkles to give their walrus character. Next we crumpled up our paper and flattened it out 2 or 3 times to give our walruses more of that tough wrinkly skin which acts as their coat of armor. This part they of course loved. Next, I had some watery brown paint for them to paint their walrus. I told them to leave some brown paper showing to give their walrus even more dimension. We learned that walruses sometimes have pink spots as their bodies warm. So the children could add some pink as well. The walrus's whiskers act as sensors on the ocean floor, helping them find food. Our whiskers were painted with some yellowish-white tempera and a small brush. We also learned that walruses have very poor eyesight. Their eyes are a brownish red which we added with oil pastel. To make the eyes look more realistic we dipped the back of our small paint brush in white paint and added a couple reflection dots. The tusks (which grow continuously from birth) were cut from a folded rectangle of ivory colored paper. This allowed 2 identicle tusks which were glued onto our dry paper. On a separate piece of posterboard, the children painted the icy water with lots of white and some blues and purple using horizontal strokes. After our work was dry, we simply glued our walrus to the background. I did this project with K thru 3rd. And as you can see, each child's walrus has their own distinct personality. Some look like young pups and others like wise old guys! :)