Bob the Artist Art Activity

📝 This post, Bob the Artist, was originally published in 2012 and has been updated with new information and resources.

Bob the Artist

by Marion Deuchars

II absolutely love this book! The illustrations, the story, and the message are all wonderful. I actually ordered it on a whim during one of those late-night Amazon Prime shopping sprees and ended up with far more books than I intended. Thankfully they were all good, but Bob the Artist really stood out. It’s one of those books you probably wouldn’t pick up just by looking at the cover, but once you read it, it’s hard to forget. Even better, it inspired a classroom art project that completely surprised me. Every Bob looked different, and they all turned out amazing!

Bob is just like the other birds except for one thing—his legs are very skinny. When the other birds tease him, Bob tries everything he can think of to change them. He exercises, eats more, and even changes the way he dresses, but nothing works.

Then Bob visits an art museum and is inspired. He begins painting his beak to look like famous works of art, and soon everyone stops noticing his skinny legs and starts noticing his creativity instead. It’s a wonderful story about celebrating what makes each of us unique.

Bob the Artist Craft

After reading the book, my first graders created their own versions of Bob. They used black construction paper to make his body—including those famous skinny legs!

Then I introduced them to a variety of famous works of art and invited them to choose one that inspired them. We looked closely at the colors, patterns, and brushstrokes in each painting and talked about what made every artist’s style unique.

Some students chose to recreate part of a famous painting on Bob’s beak, while others used the artwork as inspiration to design their own original patterns and color combinations. I loved seeing how differently each child interpreted the same idea. No two Bobs were alike!

Can you tell which famous painting inspired this young artist?

Once everyone’s beak was finished, we glued all the pieces together. The completed Bobs were as unique as the students who created them, making this one of those classroom displays that everyone stopped to admire.