OuiSi · Imagination and drawing

Build a creature

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Grades K–2 Teaching 30 min Plus 3 to set out, 3 to clear Class any size Set any Prep paper and drawing materials

set out 3′ That could be a tail 8′ Find three parts 8′ Lay it out, then draw it 10′ Name it 4′ clear 3′

Goal: Children see a picture as something other than what it is, assemble an animal out of three or four borrowed parts, and give it a name.
Materials: One OuiSi Photo-Card set, about eight cards per pair. Paper and drawing materials.

K: Three parts, named together as a class — the full 30 min, or about 24 if you skip the drawing.
Grade 1: Four parts, and say what one of them is for — the full 30 min.
Grade 2: Four parts, and say what two of them are for — the full 30 min.

1 · That could be a tail

8 min

Hold up one card — something curled, or rough, or spiky. Do not say what it is.

This could be part of an animal. What part?

Take three or four answers. Every one is right.

It does not matter what the picture really is. If it could be a tail, it is a tail.

This permission is the whole lesson at this age. A rope becomes a tail, a cracked wall becomes skin, a pile of stones becomes a shell. Say it plainly and repeat it when children ask what something really is.

2 · Find three parts

8 min

Pairs, about eight cards face up.

Find three cards that could be parts of one animal. A head, a body, and one more. Grades 1 and 2 take four.

Walk round and ask each pair one thing.

Which part is that? For grades 1 and 2 — and what could it help your creature do?

Three is the right number for K. More parts means more choosing and less building, and the choosing is not where the pleasure is.

3 · Lay it out, then draw it

10 min

Put your cards in the shape of the animal, so somebody else could see it.

Then paper comes out.

Sketch the parts with simple shapes, then invent how they join.

The joining is the drawing. Children have to invent what goes between a stone shell and a rope tail, and that invention is the creative work.

4 · Name it

4 min

What is it called?

Take names from four or five pairs and write them on the board exactly as said.

Naming is the payoff for this age group, and seeing their invented word written down matters more than anything else in these four minutes.

Watch for

But what is it really? The commonest question, and the one to keep answering the same way. It does not matter — what could it be?
Copying a real animal. Completely fine at this age. A cat made of three cards is a success.
Too many parts. Three, or four in grades 1 and 2. A pair with nine cards has stopped building and started collecting.
Stalling at the drawing. Some children freeze when told to draw an animal. Simple shapes are enough, and nobody needs to copy the photographs.

Adapt

K — build with the cards and skip the drawing entirely if time is short. The arrangement is the artifact.
Grade 2 — two parts with a job each, which starts the thinking that Invent a creature builds on.
Motor needs — larger paper and chunky materials, with the cards taped down so they do not slide.
Multilingual learners — building needs no words. The name can be in any language.
Autistic children — a literal, consistent creature is a good creature. Do not push for whimsy.
Display — photograph the card arrangements beside the drawings and put both on the wall.

Curriculum links. Reading an image as something other than its subject · Selecting and combining parts into a coherent whole · Constructing a drawing from simple shapes · Naming and describing an invention.
Standard codes vary by state and district — these are the skills exercised, for you to map to your own.

For grades 3–5 see Invent a creature, which makes every part justify itself and lets the parts decide where the animal lives.
Screen-free. No codes and no devices. Works with any OuiSi Photo-Card set.