"Who built the ark? K5! K5!"

Back when we studied Noah's Ark in Bible, we created a giant mural to represent the story. It's a great way to make this Bible story come to life, and we were able to incorporate lots of different skills, including art and engineering!

We started by learning what a mural is -- basically a giant picture. Then we headed outside to get started. We used blue, teal, and purple paints and swirled them together to represent the water. Why is paint so much fun?!?!? While the paint was still wet, we sprinkled some glitter to make our water really shimmer!

A few days later, allowing for the paint to dry, I cut big pieces of brown paper into various shapes. (Actually, I drew them and the kids cut them out -- which is good for their fine motor skills!) Then I made a list of the various shapes of paper, and the students took turns coming to the board and creating an ark design using those same shapes. Some of the designs were outlandish, but some were quite good!

Here are some of their ideas!

Once we'd sort of settled on a plan, we took turns reading the "blueprint" and gluing the pieces of paper in the right places.

Once the ark was built, it was time to add some animals! The students each chose a different animal, then they colored a pair of that creature. (Bonus: we learned the definition of pair!) When it was time to add the animals, they got to choose which part of the boat they wanted their pair to stay in.

Here is some serious discussion about how close the lizards should be to the cats. (And from personal experience, I know that cats will eat lizards! 😁 )

The finished product is now on display on the wall of our modular, above the lockers. Feel free to come in and see it some time!