Lesson: Flower Artist

Discuss the beauty of nature and its effect on humans.

• Show students photos of beautiful plants and insects. (Optional: Ask students to bring in their own examples.) Invite students to talk about things in nature that they find beautiful. Ask: How do these photos make you feel? 
• Share the magazine cover and images from the article. Ask: What do you observe? How do these images make you feel? Explain that the animal figures are made out of plant parts, like flower petals. 

Watch an interview with artist Raku Inoue.

• Play the video “Raku Inoue, Turning Flowers Into Insects.” Ask: How does Inoue describe his process for making his art? (He “goes with the flow.”) What does that mean? (He makes decisions as they come up, rather than planning far ahead.) What are good activities for going with the flow? (art, rapping, poetry, nature walks, etc.)

Read and react to an article about Inoue’s nature-inspired artwork.

• Read the article aloud. Discuss the art. Ask: What do you notice about each piece? What challenges do you think Inoue faces in making these sculptures? (He has to find materials and decide how to place them. He has to know which materials work best for different purposes.) Then have students complete the Quick Quiz in pairs.

Watch a video about plants and explore the role of pollinators.

• Before class, cut two flower shapes out of paper. Sprinkle cocoa in the middle of one and cornstarch in the other. Twist one end of a pipe cleaner into a small coil.
• Show the video Powerful Plants, asking students to watch for evidence of relationships between plants and insects. (e.g., a carnivorous plant eating an insect, a bee eating nectar from a flower) 
• Show students your paper flowers. Dip the pipe cleaner “bee” in the cocoa. Touch the “bee” to your other flower so some of the cocoa rubs off on it and so the “bee” picks up some cornstarch. Ask: How does this show an important relationship between insects and plants? (Insects pollinate flowers.) Have students complete the Pollination Partners skills sheet. Refer to your demonstration of pollination as needed to help students understand the diagram. 

Complete a design challenge to create artwork about the relationship between plants and insects. 

• Use the skills sheet Art From Nature to explore plant-insect connections.

⇨ Learning Extension:

• Write a poem about how plants and insects work together to pollinate flowering plants. 
• Plant a seed in a small container of soil. Put it in a sunny spot and water it. Take a photo twice a week as the seed grows.