Underwater Tints and Shades

Following the ocean theme, we learned more about value, and mixing tints and shades.

A couple of years ago I did a project involving similar techniques based on this 'Tints and Sharks!' lesson from The Bees Knees Cousin (note: that blog seems to have a new home but I can't see that lesson on it) - that time I didn't use the ocean theme, this time it fit perfectly!

I also came across a similar sea turtle picture on Pinterest that took me here. I liked the 'star burst' effect for the background so gave the children the option of painting a 'star burst' instead of concentric circles.

We used ready mix paint, starting with white and adding blue. I knew from experience that children find it quite a challenge to mix the colours to achieve a gradual effect but they were all successful. We then added silhouettes with black paint. A couple of the children found painting small details very difficult but overall everyone was really pleased with their results.