Objective:
The students will create a train using a variety of art materials.

Materials

• Shoe boxes (one per student)

• Construction paper

• Markers, paint, crayons, etc.

• A variety of extra items such as paper towel rolls, yarn, fabric, etc.

Procedure

1. Tell the students they will be creating their own classroom train.

2. Pass out the shoe boxes and make the art materials available.  

3. Have the students create train cars using the materials provided.

4. Once the students have complete their individual train cars, have them assemble them into a long train to be displayed in the classroom.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. As an alternative to the above lesson, if shoe boxes are not available, have the students make 2 dimensional train cars from rectangular pieces of construction paper.

2. Have a lesson on 2 dimensional vs. 3 dimensional.  Use a drawing of a train as an example of 2-dimensional art and a train created from box as an example of 3-dimensional art.  Have the students create their own train car in either a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional form.

3. Have the students draw a picture of scenery they would like to see from a train window.

4. Have a lesson on perspective using a diminishing train track as an example.