Creating the Marsupial Lion Interactive Art Craft
Hey there, friends! Welcome to my first attempt at making a marsupial lion art craft project. It has been a bumpy road making this guy. It’s amazing how one idea leads to another, and so on and so forth.
Speaking of favorites, I’ve got some exciting news to share! Some awesome teachers at my school have been using my Japanese Cherry Blossom coloring pages and opinion writing units. I created a super cute Japanese Cherry Blossom unit for the First and Third Graders, and it’s been a hit. The teacher also used one of my Australian Aborigine collaborative Coloring pages and Google Slides with the class. This was very helpful because I could see how another teacher uses my product, and most importantly the inside they have about how to make it better.
For example, the teacher used a longer pink page to create a kind of booklet with my japanese cherry blossom pages on the inside. She instructed the students to trace my design on the pink cover. Next, the students used glue and glitter to decorate the cover. It was certainly a unique idea. The Same teacher even shared one of my preview videos for high school students about the Marsupial Lion with her first graders. I think the first graders were really excited about it. Unfortunately I didn’t have anything for them to do. so I decided that I would create A Marsupial Lion Art Project that could work for elementary students.
let’s talk about this Marsupial Lion, aka Thylacoleo Carnifex was an apex predator that went extinct in Australia about 40,000 years ago. It was the size of female tiger, carried its young in a pouch, balanced on a kangaroo like tail and most notably it had typical marsupial teeth. If you look closely at the teeth of any marsupial, you will notice they have two pointed front teeth like a rodent or bugs bunny.
When I first learned about this animal, I thought it was an amazingly cool animal. I also thought the kids would love learning about it. So I first created a high school product covering its evolution and how climate change led to its extinction. I put a tremendous amount of research into the high school product. The next task is to figure out how I can bring this cool animal into elementary classrooms.
When The first graders watched my video I was not in the room. But I came into the room soon after and some of the boys were talking about the marsupial lion. I was really surprised. They even tried drawing their own marsupial lions with a YouTube drawing Tutorial.
Sometimes when I get an idea, I just pull out some blank paper and sketch a general idea of whats in my mind. I knew that i needed to create a marsupial lion interactive art project, something students in first - fourth grade could do and learn from. I pulled out some paper and sketched the outline of A Marsupial lion head and then another of the animals entire body, including a pouch for its joey. I searched both TPT and google, to find there really isn’t much like this available online. So I was flying solo on this project.
It didn’t go unnoticed that TPT and google are full of woolly mammoth crafts and projects. I can see it, when people think of the woolly mammon they think of ice age and a cute, soft lovable extinct creature. nobody will care about the Marsupial Lion unless we make it cool. I think my preview video make the Marsupial Lion cool for the first graders! So I admit it - that is what I am tapping into.
The instructions are:
First: show your students the Marsupial Lion Preview Video, what they are going to Learn in High School
ta Da! We just made the Marsupial Lion the Coolest Animal Ever - because the high schoolers are learning about it, it must be cool
Next: give them the art project.
I have no idea if teachers will like it. I have yet to see how i can find nGSS standards that works with a marsupial Lion Lesson. Or, perhaps it is, as in the case of mean Girls, that I am Gretchen trying to make the word ‘fetch’ happen.
Check out the photos above for a sneak peek at my first attempt. This is a color, cut, and glue project featuring the unique traits of the Marsupial Lion. I printed the pieces on yellowish paper just to see if it would give off tiger vibes. Spoiler: The standout feature? Those Buck-Tooth teeth. The marsupial lion had two front teeth like other marsupials, plus long, sharp pre-molars. My project includes these teeth for students to cut out and paste inside the Marsupial’s mouth. It is an opportunity to talk to the students about how we use fossil evidence to figure out what an animal ate.
I’m still brainstorming the joey part. I’m thinking of making a little Marsupial Lion Joey that fits into a pouch. Maybe we’ll cut a slice in front of the lion and pull the joey up from the back. It’s a work in progress, but I’m excited to see where it goes. I am going to have some cool marsupial lion, saber Tooth Tiger and of course, the lovable Woolly Mammoth art and writing projects coming up.
Stay tuned This art project is not going to be finished for awhile, and happy almost-summer, everyone! 🌸🦁✂️
