King of Beasts

Lions are awesome animals! With Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils, draw one of these regal creatures, partially hidden by its surroundings.

• 1.

  Read about lions. Watch them live on the Internet or visit a zoo or wild animal park. These beautiful cats truly are kings of beasts. Find out about lions' natural habits and habitats. Research what, and how much, lions eat every day. What else do they need to be comfortable and content? How do zoos try to provide lions and other wild animals with more natural surroundings?

• 2.

  Use Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils to draw a lion. Show the male's bushy, handsome mane. Both males and females have whiskers and a graceful tail. What do their eyes and noses look like?

• 3.

  Decide whether to show your lion in its natural habitat or in a circus or zoo. Erase lines in your picture to resemble the lion roaming through vegetation or standing behind cage bars. This is the foreground. Color the background setting in which you chose to show the King of Beasts.

Benefits

• Students research information about lions in their natural habitats.
• Students identify strategies that zoos use to assure that lions are well cared for in captivity.
• Students draw a lion in the habitat of their choice, erasing parts of the lion to add details in the scene's foreground and detailing the background.

Adaptations

• Create a triarama showing a lion in its natural habitat.
• Make Crayola Model Magic sculptures of lions. What is the relative size of their paws to their bodies? Compare paw sizes of lions and domestic cats.
• When and why do lions roar? Draw pictures showing lion cubs at play or in other daily situations.
• Imagine you are a zookeeper. What would you do to care for lions, elephants, and other large animals that typically roam?