5th Grade Silhouettes

There were many elements to this lesson. First we spent a day learning to create tints by mixing various amounts of a chosen paint hue with white. Students worked with a partner to do this, both painting their tints onto their own papers in order from lightest tint to darkest tint, creating a tint scale. During our next session we looked a variety of silhouettes and talked about the contours (outlines) of objects. As students were searching through books and magazines to find inspiration for their silhouettes we were able to discuss what kinds of images would make good silhouettes and which ones would not.