Oil Pastel Butterflies

First and second graders drew amazing oil pastel butterflies for their last art project of the year.  Butterflies symbolize change, and that is very appropriate for this time of the year.  The materials are black 12X18 Tru-Ray construction paper and Crayola oil pastels.  Students folded the paper once vertically and then once horizontally, dividing the paper into 4ths.  We used the center vertical fold to draw the head, thorax and abdomen of the butterfly with black oil pastels.  Next, I taught them to draw symmetrical wings in each 4th of the paper.  The cool thing about the project is the effect of overlapping oil pastel colors.  Students colored all four wings with 2-3 colors of oil pastels, then drew symmetrical black lines and white circles.  Finally, they used the side of a blue oil pastel to add a background color.  The last thing they did was add antennae and sign their name.  Framable!!!