wiggly worms k

What You’ll Need

Wiggly worms

K

Topics Covered Line, Space & Movement

Time Needed 2 Sessions at 40 Minutes

© DEEP SPACE SPARKLE & THE SPARKLERS CLUB 2

ABOUT WORMS Worms are a family of animals that have tube-like bodies and no eyes or

legs. EARTHWORMS are the largest members of the worm family.

Earthworms tunnel in soil and as they do, they help create space for the

roots of plants to grow. Earthworms eat lots of different things. They

breathe through their skin and use the muscles in each of their segments

to wriggle around. Since they don’t have eyes, they cannot see like we do

but they can sense when

it is light and dark.

The book Yucky Worms

by Vivian French and

Jessica Ahlberg was the

inspiration for this

lesson and makes a

great literary

accompaniment to share

with your students.

These wiggly worms will no doubt bring a smile to your

kindergarteners’ faces as they not only learn how to

draw earthworms, but also find out that worms are our

friends. Inspired by the book Yucky Worms, written by

Vivian French and illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg, this

lesson will have your students focusing on

line as they paint worm tunnels and space

as it is communicated by object size and

placement. Not only will they be learning

about earthworms as they bridge science

and art while drawing worms with oil

pastels, they will also be showing

movement in their artwork, too.

What You’ll Need: 12” x 18” colored sulphite paper

( white & one other color)

Brown & white liquid tempera paint

Large flat paintbrush

Oil pastels (red, white, pink & black)

Scissors & glue

Earthworm. Image from HERE.

Wiggly worms

http://www.wikipedia.org

http://www.wikipedia.org

Painting the background• Begin with your 12” x 18” colored background

paper turned HORIZONTAL.

• Use a large, flat paintbrush and the brown liquid

tempera to paint three or four different types of

LINES across your paper that will become the worm

tunnels. Some examples of different types of lines

that work well are:

• WAVY LINE

• STRAIGHT LINE

• BUMPY LINE

• ZIGZAG LINE

• TIP: I like to add a little bit of white to my brown

paint and then dilute it with a tiny bit of water to the

consistency of heavy cream. The water will help the

paint move easily across the paper and the white

makes it a little more opaque.

• Set your paper aside to dry.


Drawing the worm• While your worm tunnels dry, draw your big worm. This

worm will be in FOREGROUND, or front of the others,

so it should be a lot bigger than the rest.

• Turn your 12” x 18” white sulphite

paper horizontal.

• In the upper left corner, use a red

oil pastel to draw a large, tall

rectangle SHAPE with rounded

corners. Use the drawing guide

on page seven for help.

• Draw an upside down “U” on top of the rectangle to

make the worm’s head.

• From the lower left corner of the rectangle, draw a

long wavy line.

• Draw another wavy line from the lower right corner

that runs parallel, or next to, the first line, connecting

them at the end to make the worm’s tail.

• Color in your worm. I’ve filled in the worm in with a

layer of white before continuing with pink oil pastel.

• Use a finger to smooth the pastel.

• Use red to add short CURVED LINES across the body from below

the rectangle to the tail. You can

smudge these, too, if you’d like.

• Trace on top of the red lines

with the black oil pastel. Smudge only along the worm’s outline and then finish your worm by adding a face.

Drawing guide on page 7


Worms in the tunnels• When the painted tunnels are dry, you can add

wriggling worms.

• These worms are in the BACKGROUND so they

should be a lot smaller than the large worm you

already made.

• Use the same steps that you used to draw the

large worm to draw several smaller ones moving

through the tunnels, beginning with the red oil

pastel outline.

• THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

• There can be more than one worm in a tunnel.

• They can be moving in different directions.

• They do not all have to have the larger rectangle

just below their head.

• These don’t need faces.

• Their bodies should be mimicking the space inside

the tunnel. For example, a zigzag tunnel should

have a zigzag worm.


Putting it all together• When your background is complete, it is time to

position your large worm into the arrangement.

• Use scissors to cut out your large worm.

• Place the large worm on the background and

move it around if you need to until you have an

acceptable arrangement.

• Attach the worm in the foreground with glue.

• NOTE: After a

while, you might

notice that the oil

pastel is creating a

“halo” of oil around

the worms that you

have drawn in the

tunnels. This is

okay. I think that it

even adds a little

more emphasis to

the worms.


Draw a wavy line down and then over to the right from the bottom left side of the rectangle.

Add short, curved lines to the worm’s body beneath the rectangle.

Draw another wavy line from the right bottom side of the rectangle that runs parallel to the first and connects at the end.

Finish your earthworm by giving it some simple eyes and a mouth.

Begin the earthworm by drawing a rounded rectangle in the upper half of the left side of the paper.

1 2

Add an upside down “U” to the top of the rectangle to make the head.


D R A W I N G G U I D EEarthWorm

3 4

5 6


National Core Arts Standards - KindergartenW I G G L Y W O R M S

C R E AT I N G

Common Core StandardsCCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information

presented orally or through other media by asking and

answering questions about key details and requesting

clarification if something is not understood.

After reading Yucky Worms by Vivian French, ask students questions about

important details from the text to formally assess their understanding of earthworms. This is a

great way to bridge science and art while checking their comprehension.

CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.5 Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a

rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a

number from 1-20, count out that many objects.

You can have students count and share the number of worms they drew to reinforce counting

objects in a scattered configuration.

CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions

of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind and next to.

You can choose a worm in a tunnel and ask the students questions about surrounding worms

and encourage them to describe the relative positions using the specific terms.

VA:Cr1.1.Ka - Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials.

VA:Cr2.1.Ka - Organize and develop artistic ideas and work - Through experimentation, build skills in various media and approaches to art-making.

VA:Cr3.1.Ka - Refine and complete artistic work - Explain the process of making art while creating.

I Can StatementsW R I G G L I N G W O R M S


Today I will learn about LINE so that I CAN

paint different types of LINES to make my

worm tunnels.

Today I will learn about SPACE so that I CAN make the worm in

the FOREGROUND bigger than those in the BACKGROUND.

Today I will learn about IMPLIED FORM so that I CAN use a black

oil pastel to outline my earthworm and then smudge it to make my

worm look more THREE-DIMENSIONAL.

Criteria

Craftsmanship

Effort

Great! Good Needs Work

Did you follow all the steps?

Did you use the art supplies correctly?

Did you do your best?

How do you feel about your project?

TEACHER ASSESSMENT

© DEEP SPACE SPARKLE & THE SPARKLERS CLUB

© DEEP SPACE SPARKLE & THE SPARKLERS CLUB

STUDENT ASSESSMENT K-1K-1

K-1K-1

Did the student paint three or four worm tunnels made from different types of lines?

Did the make the worm in the foreground bigger than the ones in the background to show space?

Did the student use black oil pastel to outline the worm in the foreground and smudge to give it the illusion of form?

Student Name:__________________ Class:__________ Project: Wiggly Worms

Student Name:__________________ Class:__________ Project: Wiggly Worms

earthworm

W I G G L Y W O R M S V O C A B U L A R Y


wiggly worms k

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