Yucatán Zentangle Animals

Third, Fourth, and Fifth graders practiced using simple organic and geometric shapes to create more complex organic figures then used Zentangle inspired lines and patterns to complete the drawing.

To keep a Mayan / rainforest theme going, I researched birds and reptiles that were either very important to Mayan culture or very prominent in the Yucatán Peninsula. Students were given some background information about the Mayan culture and the mythology of some of the choices for bird and reptile drawing.

We used YouTube videos and guided drawing to practice finding organic and geometric shapes. After we had attempted 3 or 4 different animal drawings together, students chose a photo copy of an animal. They worked in pencil on 12x18" drawing paper and later used marker to add Zentangle designs.

Our Mayan themed artworks were lovely at our district's Hispanic Heritage Month program and at a showing at our Board of Education.