Lesson Plan

Vegetable Faces: A Giuseppe Arcimboldo Portrait Study

Overview

As part of the Meet Your Vegetables thematic lesson plan, students create vegetable portraits like the Italian painter, while learning how to identify different fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet.

Objective

After completing the unit plan, students will:

1. Gain the knowledge and skills to select a diet that supports health and reduces the risk of illness and future chronic diseases. ~ Massachusetts Health Curriculum Framework

2. Identify a variety of fruits and vegetables and how they are grown and harvested.

3. Identify the connection between food served in the home with regional food production. ~ Massachusetts Health Curriculum Framework

Materials

  • an assortment of vegetables
  • drawing paper
  • colored pencils
  • scissors
  • black Sharpie markers
  • glue
  • black construction paper (about 11" X 17"), one sheet per student
  • copies of the vegetable request letter

Set Up and Prepare

Directions

Gather students together and share some of the Giuseppe Arcimboldo images. Have a discussion about what the artist used to create his faces. Explain that students will have the opportunity to create similar faces.

Use a Sharpie to demonstrate how to draw the outline of a vegetable. Use colored pencils to color the vegetable drawings before cutting them out. After washing their hands, give students the opportunity to arrange the vegetables to create faces.

After they've had a chance to experiment with vegetable faces, students can arrange their vegetable drawings on a sheet of black paper to create a portrait. Once they are satisfied with their face, they can glue the drawings to the paper.

Supporting All Learners

Have sample face collages posted around the room to serve as visual cues for the project.  Use toothpicks with attached facial features to create individual Mr. Potato Heads.

Lesson Extensions

  1. Have students write a grocery list of the vegetables they used in their collage.
  2. Try using fruits to perform the same activity.

Home Connection

This lesson can establish a home connection in a variety of ways. Parents can contribute to this project by donating vegetables as requested in the newsletter. Hang the artwork in a prominent place outside of the classroom. Be sure to include photos of the project in both the classroom and school newsletter (PDF).

Assignments

  1. Make a list of the vegetables used in the face collage.
  2. Create a "vegetable face" using Play-Doh.

Evaluation

  1. Was I clear in my directions?
  2. Was I set up and prepared with the proper materials?
  3. Would I do anything differently next time?

Assess Students

  1. Are students engaged and on task?
  2. Do all students have a finished product that looks like a face?

  • Subjects:
    Cooking, Arts and Creativity, Following Directions
  • Duration:
    2 Hrs
top