As seen in a few varieties done by different art teachers I too have created my own version of the popular lesson on Keith Backer's "Big Fat Hen". My 4th and 5th graders first looked through the book noting the style of his illustrations and then discussed what an illustrator does. After this each students received a piece of colored paper and picked a copy of one of the hens from the book to attempt to draw, no directions given on how to draw it other than hinting to starting with the head and breaking it down into simple shapes then adding details. Then they finished by using all construction paper crayons to make the colors of the hens pop, noting that Backer did not draw boring white, brown and black hens but bright colorful ones. They also were told to add one detail to the bottom of the hen, a bug, chick, egg or whatever they felt fit. Some chose to add color to the background, others didn't, over all a very fun drawing lesson that caused them to work independently and push themselves to truly see rather than just look at a picture.
