Mimic the Artist
Art

As a class, review the story, taking note of illustrative techniques used in Fish Is Fish. The artist employed techniques that children can recreate in a simple way. For example:

• Have children create water scenes by placing white paper over a rough surface, such as cardboard or pressboard, and rubbing (peeled) crayons across it.
• Children might make leaf prints by painting leaves with tempera paint and pressing them on paper.
• For simplest effect, children can color with crayon over a previously colored area, reversing the direction of the strokes to achieve a crosshatched effect.
• After examining the birds that the little fish imagined in the story, children may wish to sketch their own fish-based animals. Help them draw basic fish and then add features such as tails, wings, horns, whiskers, and ears to turn them into animals the fish might imagine.
• Provide wallpaper samples and encourage children to design, cut out, and paste clothing onto the animals they have drawn.