Once in a while you come across that perfect book. It’s the perfect blend of humor for parents and kids, the illustrations are gorgeous to look at long after the book is read, and the story has a wonderful message. This is how I felt about Crab Cake.
Halfway through reading Crab Cake I realized that creating an art project with a crab holding a gigantic three-tiered cake was simply inevitable. So let’s dive in.
Getting Crabby
This step-by-step crab is simple enough for young kids to draw, without foregoing giant claws to hold the cake! Use a black oil pastel to draw a half circle, add legs on each side, and eye stalks.
Next draw the claws, and a tray, with three stacked and rounded rectangles, each progressively smaller, on top of the tray.
A horizon line behind the tray or cake is next, then add some rocks behind and under the crab for a crabtastic landscape.
For the crab to be super bright, use gel sticks, like these Faber Castell gel sticks. Oil pastels would work just as well without an extra art supply.
Paint the background with pan watercolors, and stick with solid colors for the cake layers. Then grab your painted paper stash. If you don’t have any painted paper, you can make some, use other paper on hand (like scrapbook paper or magazines), or add details with oil pastels instead!
Let Your Creativity Eat Cake
This is a great time to talk about composition of an art piece, and how that applies to baked goods as well as art. Cakes are beautiful works of art as artists put a lot of time and thought into what goes where.
You can encourage your artists to add seashells and seaweed to their cakes, much like the book, if they feel that looks like a pleasing confectionery design.
You can add a little model magic to the top, or create puffy paint to look like fluffy frosting.
Inspiration thrives in picture books, especially ones that kids love. But there’s also so much opportunity to take a beloved art project or lesson and turn it into something that is perfect for your students.
We would love it if you’d share!
Don’t forget to tag us at @soulsparklettes on social media if you make this crab cake art project with your kids or students – we love to see what you create!
For more under the sea lessons, try this free bundle all about Tide Pools, on us! Download for free here.
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