About Eric Carle
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ABOUT ERIC CARLE Eric Carle is the creator of EDUCATION AND COLLAGE STYLE brilliantly illustrated and EARLY CAREER Eric Carle’s art work is created in innovatively designed picture When Eric Carle was six years collage technique, using books for very young children. old, he moved with his parents to hand-painted papers, which he His best-known work, The Very Germany. He was educated there, cuts and layers to form bright and Hungry Caterpillar, has eaten its and graduated from Akademie der cheerful images. Children often way into the hearts of bildenden Künste, the art school send him pictures they have made literally millions of in Stuttgart. themselves which were inspired children all over by Carle’s illustrations. He the world and has In 1952, with a fine portfolio in receives hundreds of letters each been translated hand and forty dollars in his week from his young admirers. into more than pocket, he arrived in New York. 47 languages. Soon he found a job as a graphic APPEAL TO CHILDREN Eric Carle has designer in the promotion The secret of Carle’s books’ illustrated department of The New York appeal lies in his intuitive more than Times. Later, he was the art understanding of and respect for seventy books, director of an advertising agency children, who sense in him most of which he for many years. someone who shares their most also wrote. cherished thoughts and emotions. One day, respected educator and CHILDHOOD author, Bill Martin Jr., called and Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, asked Carle to illustrate a story he New York, in 1929. From a very had written. Martin’s eye had young age, he loved to draw and been caught by a always dreamed of being an artist. striking picture of a red lobster “As far back as I can remember, that Carle had created for an he shares,” I enjoyed drawing advertisement. Brown Bear, pictures and I knew then that I Brown Bear, What Do You See? would always draw. When I had was the result of their grown to the age when kids are collaboration. This was the asked what they’d do ‘when they beginning of Eric Carle’s true had grown up,’ I always answered career. that I would draw pictures, be an artist, be a scribbler. It always felt good to work with pencil, paints, Eric Carle with one of his most popular crayons and paper.” books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Images courtesy of eric-carle.com. Des Moines Performing Arts The Very Hungry Caterpillar Curriculum Guide VOCABULARY ART & THEATER TERMS SHOW TERMS Cocoon: a protec- Black light: Butterfly: tive cas- invisible a type of ing that a caterpillar ultraviolet insect Stages of a cocoon or light or that usu- encloses chrysalis. lamp that ally has a itself in Image: Imagine-change.com while it radiates slender Image: minuet.dance.ohio-state.edu black light. Special black-light bulbs. body, transforms into a butterfly. Switch one Image: thewitness23.blogspot.com knobbed antennae, and four on and white clothes, teeth, and broad wings that are often Egg: tiny, round other brightly colored things glow colorful. object that a in the dark, while the bulb itself Caterpillar: female butterfly only emits faint purple light. long, worm- attaches to leaves like stage of or other objects Collage: art where the near the A Monarch egg. A caterpillar spends Image: kidsbutterfly.org materials, such as butterfly. caterpillar’s food. It most of its time eating so contains the baby papers, are pasted that it can grow. and layered onto a Image: lynhoopes.com caterpillar. metamorphosis: surface. Eric Carle’s chameleon: a change of the collages are made a type of form and physical of painted papers. lizard appearance of an characterized animal. Frogs by its ability Image: not-at- Painted papers. A chameleon sitting on a school.blogspot.com and butterflies Image: lorrieabdo.blogspot.com to change branch. are metamorphic. color. Image: cites.org Puppetry: an art water cycle: form in which sequence in cloud: a visible objects, often which water is body of very with human or recycled as it fine water animal turns to droplets or ice characteristics, water vapor, are brought to particles Image: heightstechnolo- condenses gy.edublogs.org Image: blog.cymtec.com suspended life by into clouds, puppeteers. Puppeteer with the high in the air. ‘Caterpillar’ puppet. and then falls back to earth as Image: elizabethkann.com rain, sleet, or snow. Des Moines Performing Arts The Very Hungry Caterpillar Curriculum Guide PRE-SHOW EXPLORATION Photo by Margo Ellen Gesser. 1) CREATE A COLLAGE 5. Once the papers are completely dry, invite students to cut them into shapes. 6. Students then arrange shapes into a picture and Goal: To understand Eric Carle’s illustration glue them to a thicker sheet of paper. technique. Follow-Up Questions: Explanation: In this activity, students will create an 1. What colors were you able to create when you Eric Carle-style collage by painting papers, cutting mixed different paints? shapes, and gluing. 2. What sorts of textures do you see in Eric Carle’s illustrations? What shapes? Materials: Drawing paper Story Mural Extension: Paint brushes Create a story mural as a class. Using one of Eric Tempera paint in primary colors Carle’s books as inspiration, decide on a story or Tools to create texture, such as Legos, sponges, pattern that you would like to use for your class story. forks, etc. (For instance, a Very Hungry Caterpillar story mural Scissors could have students create different foods for the Glue caterpillar to eat in sequence.) Preparation: Before painting, decide as a class which food(s) each Have students watch a short video of Eric Carle student will make, decide on the colors they will need, painting papers and creating a collage. Examples and talk about what shapes they will need to cut. Use may be found on Eric Carle’s official website Carle’s illustrations as examples. (eric-carle.com) or check your school library for the video Eric Carle: Picture Writer. Activity: 1. Have students begin by painting an entire sheet of drawing paper with water. 2. Next, have students paint the paper a primary color using long horizontal strokes. Students should paint quickly so that the papers stay wet. 3. Students may overlap another primary color on their paper to make secondary colors (purple, green, orange). 4. Students may add texture by using a tool to dab, scrape, etc. Eric Carle-inspired story mural created by students at Perkins Elementary during a residency with teaching artist Jan Louise Kusske. Des Moines Performing Arts The Very Hungry Caterpillar Curriculum Guide PRE-SHOW EXPLORATION, pg. 2 Photo by Margo Ellen Gesser. 2) FROM EGG TO BUTTERFLY 3) CHAMELEON CAMOUFLAGE Goal: To understand the life cycle of a butterfly and Goal: To explore the concept of camouflage for practice sequencing. survival and protection. When: Before the performance When: Before the performance Explanation: Students will learn about the life cycle Explanation: Students will learn about the concept of the butterfly, including the egg, caterpillar, cocoon, of camouflage and why it is important for protection. and butterfly stages . Activity: Activity: 1. Read The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle 1. Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle aloud to the class. aloud to the class. 2. Explain the concept of camouflage to your 2. Go through each of the stages of a butterfly’s life stude nts and how different animals use cycle with the students: camouflage to protect themselves from predators. 1) Egg 2) Caterpillar (Larva) 3. Make several transparent chameleon cutouts 3) Cocoon (Pupa) using a double sheet of contact paper or other 4) Adult Butterfly appropriate material and hide them around the room for students to find. 3. Ask the students to compare and contrast what they learn with what they read in the book. 4. Go a step further and provide students with paper cutouts of chameleons so they can create their 4. Last, provide students with pictures of each of the own camouflage patterns using crayons, colored stages of the butterfly’s life. Ask them to write or pencils, or paints. give an explanation of what is happening in each picture and place the pictures in sequence 5. Then ask the students to hide their chameleons around the room on various items and surfaces. Follow-up Questions: 1. How is the life cycle of the butterfly the same as Follow-up Questions: in Eric Carle’s book? How is it different? 1. Were you able to spot the chameleons hiding 2. What do caterpillars really eat? hiding around the room? 2. What challenges did you face in creating your chameleon? Would your chameleon have been protected from a predator? Des Moines Performing Arts The Very Hungry Caterpillar Curriculum Guide POST-SHOW ASSESSMENT, pg. 2 Photo by Margo Ellen Gesser. 2) ACTING OUT A STORY 3) RE-TELL THE STORY WITH PUPPETS Goal: To use drama and imagination to demonstrate comprehension of a story. Goal: To practice sequencing and story-telling. When: After the performance When: After the performance Explanation: In this activity, students will use drama Explanation: Students will re-tell the story of and their imaginations to re-tell an Eric Carle story. Little Cloud using simple puppets. Activity: Sequencing Activity: 1. Read a book by Eric Carle aloud to the class. 1. Print copies of the characters on pages 15-16 onto 2. As a class, brainstorm the characters in the story. blue cardstock with colored ink. 3. As a class, determine the plot or sequence of main 2. Carefully cut out the different characters.