Art Lesson LEGENDS - How to Grow Your Dragon (drawing and painting)
Are you looking for the perfect art project to link with your literature studies? Your students will love working on this engaging Fantasy Art lesson about Dragons!
They are able to include personal ideas in their artwork, while impressing themselves with how well their dragons come to life through the use of pencil shading to enhance 3D form. Examples from students in fourth grade, fifth grade and up.
✅ This is one of those special projects that you will use again and again. During the lessons, your students will also explore how to use the art elements of LINE, SHAPE, TEXTURE and SPACE. The exemplar photos span across multiple versions on this
lesson so you will see a variety of options to pick from.
✅ This lesson has tons of built in choice for differentiation, while keeping the skills taught consistent across the class, to save your sanity.
But you don't need to take my word for it, see what teachers say about the added value they gained from this product.
PRAISE FOR Grow Your Dragon (already enjoyed by educators, just like you)*
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "What a fabulous resource. The creative thought and detailed picture references make this a brilliant resource for my class and is something I can use for years to come. Thank you so much."
✅ Use this art project with your How We Express Ourselves unit, or support your reading and writing genre of FANTASY.
❤️ Take the guesswork out of teaching art, avoid the epic fails that result from not having the time to trial the lesson or media yourself before teaching it.
I’ve done it all for you and trailed this lesson with my own students, aged 8-11, Fourth to Seventh Grade. I am both a general ed classroom teacher and currently practising as a Visual Art and Digital Media specialist educator, teaching students from ages 4-12, at a primary school.
❤️ How will this resource help busy teachers, who are nervous about teaching art?
No worries - I’ve got you covered.
This lesson comes as a full colour PDF teacher guide, with a bumper 48 slide deck, where all steps are clearly explained and photographed, from start to finish, giving you the confidence to deliver a series of quality visual art lessons to your students.
❤️ All the materials & skills are also clearly listed for you. It’s like having an art specialist with you in your classroom.
The PDF slides are purposely designed in landscape orientation to share with your students as a presentation on your large screen. This extra visual support will prove useful to you and your students, particularly diverse learners, and will also save yourself having to repeat the same instruction, like 100 times a lesson.
Select VIEW > enter full screen for presentation mode. Then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive a smooth slideshow experience, like a pro :)
Encourage students along the way, to follow choice options and create their unique artwork, while being guided by the information on the slides.
More praise for GROW YOUR DRAGON*
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Excellent resource."
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I really loved this project idea."
⏰ How long will this project take to finish?
This art project will span multiple lessons, depending on the age and stage of students and the size of paper /media/ style you or your students choose. Chunk into small manageable lessons, as shading and colouring can tire out young hands and quality of execution can drop. Between 4-6 lessons.
➡️ View the PDF & Video previews above, then add to cart and smile, knowing you will soon have beautiful artwork on the walls and students glowing with pride!
❤️ So what is special about this resource?
This FANTASY Art project for DRAGONS is NOT a superficial art or craft option. As a specialist in this field, I write lessons that encourage deeper, cross-curricular learning and make meaningful connections to other subject areas. This IS:
- an observational drawing lesson that uses grids, lines and shapes for enlargement (Math),
- supports the genre of Fantasy (Literacy, ELA),
- teaches multiple processes in art (How We Express Ourselves, Visual Art).
Teachers who have used GROW YOUR DRAGON, say:*
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Fantastic unit of work. My class loved their masterpieces. As suggested this worked well with an English unit on fantasy. Than you :)"
This lesson plan can be the perfect companion art project for students inquiring into
✏️ Using measurement, grids and tables (Math)
✏️ Expressive writing (Literacy),
✏️ How We Express Ourselves and (IB PYP)
Students can express their unique ideas through personal choices and modifications, while working through the guided project. Reflect in places to discuss next steps with students, check understanding and explore potential student responses or modifications, bringing personal creative ideas to the tutorial. This addresses the Viewing & Responding to artwork objectives in a purposeful way.
✅ What is included in Grow Your Dragon guided lesson plan?
A 48 slide PDF teaching support document for step-by-step guidance and reference, intentionally designed in landscape orientation. Share with your students as a presentation on your large screen.
This PDF includes step-by-step support & teaching instructions for:
- Creating enlargement grids traditionally
- Creating enlargement grids digitally
- Material lists
- Detailed instructions to create the artwork
- Photographs of every step
- Student and teacher examples of work in progress and completed. (3rd-5th grade)
- Guidance for assessment - Learning Intentions included for the International Baccalaureate Phase 3 & New Zealand standards at levels 3 - which will closely aligned to art assessment standards you may be using
- guidance and examples for Student Voice reflection/ assessment - either use orally with the slide, or print for students to fill out as a record of their learning. Alternatively export that slide as a jpeg from the PDF and post for digital reflections like Seesaw.
- Student reflections printables.
Paper sizes referenced in the lesson are A5 (5.8 x 8.3 inch) and A3 (11.7 x 16.5 inch). You will need to adapt the enlargement grids to the paper sizes that you plan to use.
✅ What knowledge, techniques and skills will my students learn?
- Create grids using measurement and number strategies
- Close observation skills
- Perseverance
- Follow a tutorial for guidance - listening skills, visual discrimination, sequencing
- Develop fine-motor & technical skills for using pencils, felt markers, liquid paints (dye), adding detail & working accurately
- Respond to art created by artists and by other students
- Reflect on my own knowledge, skills, progress and artwork - using the included student sheets (share on screen for oral reflection or print out for student’s records.
✅ That sounds great! So what about the Visual Art focus?
- Explore the art elements of LINE, SHAPE, TEXTURE & SPACE (3D)
- Explore the principles of PATTERN & MOVEMENT
- Draw from observations,
- Draw from imagination,
- Develop planning & composition skills,
- Apply theoretical learning to own ideas,
- Develop technical skills for drawing, pencil shading, silhouettes, blending with dye (liquid water colour) and oil pastel resist.
✅ Bonus inclusion:
This project also aligns to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme art curriculum
Students will produce personalised Dragon art with either a Sunset or Moon rise backdrop. Create a stunning display for your classroom, school or art show.
OTHER LEGEND BASED ART LESSONS YOU MAY LIKE TO TRY
MAUI AND THE SUN - NZ SERIES comprehensive art lesson plan
ROIMATA'S CLOAK - New Zealand Legends comprehensive visual art lesson plan
Browse all my comprehensive PDF guided lesson plans in the following sub-categories:
Visual Art 6-8
Visual Art 3-5
View my growing collection of VIDEO guided art tutorials
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Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. If you have any questions, contact me and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvements and give you, and others the best quality lesson plans.
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➡️ TERMS OF USE
Review the TOUs in the preview prior to purchasing.
Created by Timea Willemse, © One Teacher's Journey, © Help Me Learn
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