Prehistoric Cave Art

For this project, students will learn about prehistoric art, specifically cave petroglyphs and pictographs, with an emphasis on the Chumash, one of the indigenous peoples of California.

First, view the slides then the project below...

Supplies needed for this are:

  • brown paper shopping bag or other brown/tan paper

  • pencil and black crayon

  • crayons or oil pastels in natural earth tones - different shades of brown, red-orange, orange, white, black...

Prehistoric Cave Art of the Indigenous People of California

And now to the lesson...

You'll begin the lesson by crumpling up your paper - a little different from usual but we want to simulate the experience of drawing on that bumpy surface of the cave wall.

Oil pastels work well on the colored paper as their color is a little more vibrant but crayons will work well also