Spice up your house plants or garden with some friendly, or scary, characters!
This Lesson Plan is part the Crafts Module of SustainEd Farms' virtual programming.
Background: Making a Plant Mascot
Associating a plant with a familiar face is a fun way to give the plant some character qualities and strengthen the bond with your green, leafy friend, and doing so requires little more than a few items that you may already have at home. Creating a plant mascot -- be it a cartoon drawing on recycled cardboard or the pot itself as a character -- can be a cheerful creative endeavor, especially in the midst of practicing social distancing primarily indoors.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to...
Practice their drawing skills
Use recycled material to create a piece of artwork
Academic Vocabulary
mascot /masˌkät/ noun. - an entity that represents the bringing of good fortune
Directions
1. Gather your materials. You will need the following supplies:
Recycled cardboard (such as the packaging for soda cans, or anything with a “blank” side) · markers, pens, crayons, paint, or other drawing medium · toothpicks, chopsticks, or popsicle sticks (or something similar) · scissors · hot glue + hot glue gun (or other “fastening” material like velcro and other types of glue) · a potted plant
🦖Alternatively… identify a household object that you could manipulate to be both a pot and a mascot!
2. Watch the following Youtube video to see a demonstration of how to create a plant mascot. Then, follow along with the remainder of the lesson below.
3. Identify a blank drawing surface on your cardboard, and brainstorm mascot possibilities in your head. Let your thoughts unfold and bring your creations to life by drawing them with your choice of drawing utensils.
💭Stop and think… about which emotions you want yourself and others to feel when they look at your plant. Ask yourself these questions:
When I see my plant, what emotion do I feel?
What mood does the plant evoke in others?
What kind of character matches the personality I attribute to my plant?
What colors go well with my plant?
4. After your drawings are complete, cut them out of the cardboard with a pair of scissors.
5. Using a hot glue gun (or another type of glue), place a stream or consecutive dots of glue on the backside of your cardboard mascot -- starting at the center and moving towards the edge for where you’d like the stake to be. Grab a chopstick, toothpick, or popsicle stick, and press it into the glue. Let the glue dry.
6. Place your plant mascot into the potting soil of its associated plant, and observe the new qualities that your plant takes on! Enjoy!
Additional Resources:
Download the PDF version of this lesson plan: