What if your art time could whisk kids into a snowy forest where the Sugar Plum Fairy is about to appear? That’s exactly what this sugar plum fairy winter art project will do. Let’s bring some magic to the season!
This project invites students into the sparkling, magical world of The Nutcracker, one of the most famous ballets ever performed. In the ballet, young Clara drifts into a dreamland where snowflakes dance, toy soldiers march, and magic reigns at every turn. After traveling through the shimmering Land of Snow, Clara and the Prince enter the deliciously colorful Land of Sweets and meet the Sugar Plum Fairy, keeper of enchantment and welcome. Her appearance marks one of the most iconic moments in the entire story.
Tchaikovsky created her gentle, sparkling music using the celesta, an instrument so new at the time that audiences had never heard anything like its water-drop tones. This sense of fresh magic is exactly what students will explore as they draw the fairy’s entrance from snowy forests into the Land of Sweets. With soft chalk pastels, they’ll layer color, light, and movement to capture the fairy who greets Clara and the Prince, and invites all of us into a world where winter is filled with imagination.
So grab your chalk pastels, imagination, and maybe a little bit of glitter, and get ready to create a sugar plum fairy winter art project!
What you'll need:
- 9×12 blue sulphite paper
- Chalk pastels
- Optional! Glitter glue or glitter & a glue stick
Sugar Plum Fairy Winter Art Project Instructions
Turn your blue paper to the horizontal position.
Grab a blue chalk pastel and lay it flat on the paper.
Shade some patches of blue on the bottom third of the paper, drawing a horizon line above the patches.
With the chalk pastel still laying sideways and starting at the horizon line, create the stairs making strips that get smaller as you go up the paper.
Messy and imperfect are the name of the game for this sugar plum fairy winter art project!
Switch to a white pastel to begin making trees.
With the chalk pastel laying down, draw a series of short lines sloping down, both to the right and the left, to create a conifer tree shape. The first tree can be on the far right side of the paper. The second, on the far left, should be shorter than the tall tree on the right.
To make a bridge, add a rainbow line above the stairs, using white and blue, and smudging to create the look you like.
Then, add in more trees in shades of blue and white all around the bridge and stairs.
Last, you need an actual sugar plum fairy in this winter art project!
Draw petal shaped wings first, and add in a head and hair, legs, and arms.
Don’t forget a wand if you’d like!
Glitter is optional but always festive! Add swirls coming from the fairy that show the magic of the season.
Ready to get out the glitter and create a sugar plum fairy winter art project step by step?
Click the banner below to download the FREE lesson plan.
We would love it if you’d share your art project results!
Don’t forget to tag us at @soulsparklettes on social media if you do this sugar plum fairy art project with your kids or students – we love to see what you create!
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