How to Make a Mural of the Health Triangle
The health triangle is a symbol used in grade schools to teach students about the three basic aspects of overall health. Each side in the triangle represents a different, yet critical aspect of health -- physical, mental and social. Physical health is encouraged with regular exercise, a balanced diet, maintaining an ideal weight, avoiding harmful drugs and practicing proper hygiene. Mental health is promoted through development of critical thinking and decision making skills and a commitment to continual learning. Social health is encouraged through getting along with friends and family members and learning how to work in groups. The triangle forms an excellent subject for mural painting.
Things You'll Need
- Magazines, books
- Paper and colored pencils or pens
- Photocopy machine
- Overhead projector with overhead sheets
- Charcoal pencils
- Natural hair paintbrushes
- White or neutral-colored latex paint (optional)
- Acrylic paints (in various colors)
- Water-based varnish
Instructions
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Brainstorm images and scenes with students that they can use to illustrate the health triangle. Pass out magazines, books and allow time for supervised Internet searching to generate ideas for images. Agree as a class or group on two or three images that will be used to depict each side of the health triangle -- physical, mental and social health.
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Ask students to draw two scenes for each triangle side. Select the best drawings from the class to use as the basis for the mural design. Photocopy in black and white the final designs and create line drawings of them by tracing just the outline of each scene onto a clean sheet of paper. Print line drawings onto clear overhead sheets.
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Remove furniture from near the wall and place drop cloths over the floor. Coat any adjacent woodwork with blue painters tape. Coat the wall with a fresh layer of white or neutral colored paint, if necessary and allow it to dry thoroughly. Project the images onto the wall that you will be painting your mural on. Have students help trace the lines onto the wall with charcoal pencils.
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Decide on colors for each design and color in the small master sheets before you begin painting the mural to use as a reference.
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Help students paint in each piece of the health triangle mural as if they were coloring in a giant coloring book. Give each student natural hair paintbrushes and small containers filled with various colors of acrylic paint.
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Allow paint to dry and then apply a coat of water-based varnish to protect the mural from fading and cracking, particularly if it is on a wall in a highly trafficked area. Start in the top left corner of the mural and apply the varnish evenly and smoothly until the entire surface is covered.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Pixland/Pixland/Getty Images
