Tune in every Tuesday at 2:00 pm on Instagram Live @ROMtoronto as ROM Kids Coordinator and Camp Director Kiron Mukherjee combines his passion for children’s education with storytelling to bring to life science, history and art for you and your loved ones in the comfort of your own home. Kiron will share activities, easy at-home crafts, behind the scenes anecdotes and fun facts—all connected to the ROM collections.
This time on the ROMKids Show we journey back to the Mesozoic Era! Think you know everything about dinosaurs? Palaeontologist Dr. David Evans joins us to talk about all the things there is *still* left to discover about the world of dinosaurs—science is a never ending story! Then, we’ll learn about dinosaur habitats and create our own paintings using gradient and silhouettes techniques!
MATERIALS:
- white paper
- black construction paper
- white pencil crayon
- watercolour paint and brush
- scissors
- glue
1. On your white piece of paper, use your paint to create a gradient. I based my gradient on a sunset, with blue transitioning to purple, to red, to orange, to yellow. To do this blend the next colour on top of the previous, allowing the colours to mix and create a transition effect. You can also mix in white and black paint to lighten and darken your colours too!
2. While your painting is drying, using a white pencil crayon, draw your dinosaur and habitat silhouettes on a black piece of paper. A silhouette is an outline of an object with the inside filled in with a solid colour. I made a Barosaurus, like the one on display at the ROM, and placed it in a habitat of rolling hills, cycads, and ferns, like the one it would have lived in during the Jurassic period.
3. Glue your silhouettes on top of your painting to complete your dinosaur masterpiece!
As the ROMKids Coordinator & Camp Director, Kiron is the public face of the Royal Ontario Museum’s family and children’s programs. Kiron started volunteering at the ROM at age 14 and has never looked back. Though he majored in history at York University, Kiron also considers his early years as a ROMKids camper to be a highly formative part of his education. Now, he strives to provide engaging and educational kids’ programming so that future generations can look back on their ROM experiences as fondly as he has.
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