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Egypt Landscape Project

Hope Creek Studios
Jun 16
1 min read

Grade 4–6: Art Around the World — Egypt!

This lesson had several fun components going on—a mix of painting, collage, drawing, and observation, all while diving into ancient Egyptian culture.

We started with the backgrounds, where students used warm, earthy tones to reflect the desert landscape. Lots of oranges, sandy yellows, dusty browns—really trying to evoke that heat and dryness with paint. After that dried, we cut out pyramid shapes and talked about how shading gives form and dimension. I had students shade one side to make their pyramids pop before gluing them on.

art student landscape with camels and pyramids in a desert

Then we turned our attention to camels. Using photo references, we practiced drawing just the silhouettes, paying attention to the unique shapes of their legs, humps, and necks. Once students had a good outline, they transferred those to black paper and cut them out. These became our foreground elements.

The final touch? Shadows! We talked about how shadows behave—where the light is, where shadows fall, and how they’re connected to the object. Each student then created shadows behind their camels and pyramids to really ground everything in space.

Why it works:

This project is a perfect blend of technique and storytelling. It combines observation drawing, 3D illusion through shading, and spatial awareness with shadow placement—all wrapped in a cultural study of Egypt. It also gives students ownership at every level: their own drawn camels, their own painted backgrounds, their own choices in layout. It’s hands-on and multi-step, which keeps them engaged from start to finish.