The sixth graders learned about Pre-Historic People during Social Studies and got another perspective of them through the book, Boy of the Painted Cave by Justine Denzel.  As an end of the unit project, the students created their own version of a cave painting.  Below is a writing piece by Piper explaining the process as well as pictures and a video (two parts) documenting the experience.

    Long ago in a land same as ours, yet different, there were artists: artists that left behind some of the most famous paintings in the world. And if you’re thinking of pieces by Picasso and Van Gogh, think again. I’m talking about cave paintings. Our class, too, has been recently experiencing cave painting. In our classroom, of course, but with homemade paint, brushes, and little help from the teacher. We studied, collected, made, and painted until our project was a Grade A Masterpiece.
    To prepare ourselves for painting, we first needed to learn more about the project we were planning. At the time, we were reading Boy of the Painted Cave, by Justin Denzel and we found many of our painting techniques there. Actually the cave painting idea was based on the book. We were also studying ancient people, or australopithecines (awe-stray-lo-pih-the-seens). We found some more information from our social studies book. We went on to the Internet to find pictures of real cave paintings and Google searched “Lascaux, France cave” to find out additional techniques and tips. We also watched two videos: one about early dwellers and the other about caves and their ancient art. When all of our information was collected, we began preparing for the big project.    
    After we reviewed what was learned, we were ready to brainstorm ideas on what to collect for our materials. Some of the objects we used came from our homes and some we found outside the school. These were the materials we used:
    An item that we were going to use to mix paints but never brought in was honey. Our class was not allowed to use items that could not be grown or harvested in Vermont because we were pretending that we lived during the times Homo erectus (the most accomplished humans next to present day us).  When these early artists lived, they lived in parts of the world where they were not able to leave very far, due to no transportation with the exception of walking. For example, if we wanted to use bananas to make paint, we would not be able to because they are not grown in Vermont.    
    To make the paint, we used berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries), charcoal, oil, clay, fern seeds, eggs, rocks, and sticks. In containers we crushed the berries (with the rocks and sticks). We then scooped out the used, squished berries and added either egg white or oil to the juice. The blueberries made a purpleish paint, and the other berries made a reddish paint. To make brown we mixed the clay, dirt, and egg white, and to make black we used charcoal, egg white, and oil. The eggs and oil also created a sort of varnish the sealed and protected our paintings when they dried.
    Paintbrushes were used with sticks, rocks, twigs, feathers, moss, and hair. We made fine tip brushes by smooshing the ends of twigs to make them soft and fiber-like. We tied moss and hair to sticks, and we used the feathers plain.
    After we began painting, we discovered which brushes and paints worked and didn’t work. The brushes that worked well were:
•    Crushed Tip Brushes
•    Hair Brushes
•    Moss Brushes

    These brushes were used the most because they worked very well. The feathers didn’t work quite so well. They did not hold enough paint.

    These are the paints that worked well:
•    Raspberry Paint
•    Egg Yolk Paint
•    Cranberry Paint
•    Blueberry Paint
•    Charcoal Paint
    We also put egg yolks to use. We made yellow paint, and it worked really well! The mud paint crumbled a little when it dried, so it didn’t come out too great.




  
We used a lot of painting techniques that we found while researching. Some of us sketched out our drawing with charcoal before painting. Some copied pictures from the Internet, while others just painted free hand. The paper was tan and crumpled to look like cave walls and the paintings looked very prehistoric. We then cleaned up our mess by putting the paint out the window (we did this to keep it fresh for additional paintings, as we were done for the day), saving our brushes, wiping down the tables, and washing our hands.
    All in all, the project was success. It wasn’t exactly the cleanest activity ever, but as they say, “messy but good!” Everyone in our class enjoyed making their own paint that they actually used, and the painting part was a major blast from the past. So, to wrap this all up, all I can say is WE HAD FUN!