Classroom activity Kindergarten Art & Music

Kingcup Pond Shadow Shapes: A Trash-Tracing Art Station

A 35-minute kindergarten art activity where children trace clean bottles, cups, and bags into solid black silhouettes and arrange them around a paper pond.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Art & Music
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 35 min
Prep: Moderate prep
Materials: Clean empty containers: plastic bottles, paper cups, a plastic bag, a rinsed can with no sharp edge, plastic straws, White drawing paper, one sheet per child, Black crayons, one per child, plus a few black oil pastels, A large sheet of blue paper cut into a pond shape, Glue sticks and painter's tape

Standards

K.MD.A.2 Common Core Math

Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has 'more of'/'less of' the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.

How this material aligns: In the closing circle each child holds their finished silhouette beside a partner's, lines the two bottom edges up, says which shape is taller or longer, and points to the part that rises past the other, which is the direct comparison of two objects and the description of the difference this standard names.

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will trace the outline of a real object and fill the outline in solid to make a silhouette.
Students will explain that a solid dark shape reads as an object even with no details on it.
Students will compare two silhouettes side by side and say which is taller or longer.

Vocabulary

Key words: outline, silhouette, trace, shape

Teacher overview

A silhouette is the first real design idea in this activity and the litter is the second. Children lay a clean container flat on paper, trace around its edge, then fill the whole outline in solid black. What comes back is a shape with no label, no color, and no brand on it, and most children still recognize it as a bottle. That is the lesson about symbols, because an outline alone can carry meaning.

The finished silhouettes are taped around a large blue paper pond labeled Kingcup Pond, so the class ends with one panel showing everything that does not belong in the water. The activity runs as a single station with the whole class working at tables, in pairs, with about 20 to 26 students.

Use only clean, dry containers with no sharp edges, gathered from the recycling bin at home or from the school kitchen and rinsed. Nothing in this activity is actual trash.

Activity Directions

Before class, wash and dry the containers and set two or three at each pair of seats. Cut the blue pond shape and tape it low on a wall or lay it on the floor in the meeting area.
Gather the class around the pond shape and read aloud: "This is Kingcup Pond. Frogs and fish live here. Wind and rain push trash off the street and into the pond. The trash stays in the water." Ask what kinds of things end up there and take four answers.
Model the trace. Lay a bottle flat on paper, hold it still with one hand, and run the crayon around its edge with the other. Lift the bottle and show the class the empty outline. Then fill the outline in solid black and hold it up. Ask what it is now, and let the class name it without any hint.
Send children to their seats in pairs. One partner holds the container steady while the other traces, then they switch, so both partners stay busy and neither outline wobbles.
Each child fills their own outline in solid black. Coach the fill directly: press hard, work in one direction, and leave no white specks inside the shape. An oil pastel is faster for children who tire.
As silhouettes are finished, children bring them to the meeting area and tape them around the outside edge of the blue pond, not on top of the water, so the panel reads as things that belong outside the pond.
The activity ends when every child has one filled silhouette taped in place and the pond is ringed all the way around.
Close in a circle for the debrief. Pairs hold their two silhouettes up side by side with the bottom edges lined up, and each pair says which shape is taller or longer and points to the part of it that rises past the other. Then ask the whole class two questions: how did we know what the black shape was with no color on it, and what should a person do with a bottle so it never reaches the pond.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Tape the container to the paper with a loop of painter's tape so it cannot slide while the child traces. Choose the simplest shapes for these children, such as a cup or a straw, and skip the bag, which has a floppy edge. Offer a thick oil pastel for the fill, which fills the shape in fewer strokes than a crayon needs.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask the child to trace two objects overlapping each other, fill both, and explain which one looks closer and why. These children can also sort the finished silhouettes on the pond panel from shortest to tallest before taping, and can label their shape with beginning sounds.

ELL supports

The tracing and filling steps can be followed without language, so put these children in a pair with a strong model and let them work before they talk. Teach four words at the objects: bottle, cup, bag, and pond. For the debrief comparison, provide two gestures rather than sentences, which are a flat hand held high for taller and a flat hand held low for shorter, and accept the comparison shown that way.

Extensions

Take the class outside with a paper bag and gloves to pick up whatever litter is on the school grounds, then compare the real haul to the silhouettes on the panel and mark which shapes matched. Children leave glass, sharp objects, and anything unknown for an adult, and everyone washes hands afterward. Hang the pond panel in the hallway with a card explaining that the shapes are traced from clean containers, so families understand what they are seeing.