Summer is often a time of rest, relaxation…and getting caught up on things! Oftentimes, we travel in the summer to visit family or go on vacation. Sometimes, we even teach during the summer—summer school, enrichment programs, camps, etc. But no matter what you are doing, including a little art in your summer plans, is something that will make all participants happy! And this cool, citrusy summer art activity is perfect for you and your kids!

I originally designed this lesson when schools closed down for COVID. During that time, I developed a series of teaching videos that required minimal art supplies and were easy for kids to follow. For that reason, I have an instructive video to go along with this lesson. You can read this post to see how the lesson is done, and then use my blog and/or my teaching video to help your children with this summer art activity.

You can find the video HERE.

Summer Art Activity: Drawing Citrus Slices

I will break down this project into easy steps with pictures to help you with this activity.

This citrus slices drawing activity is also available as a FREE downloadable lesson plan HERE.

Materials

• • • Paper
    • Pencil
    • A range of colors in the medium of your choice (colored pencils, crayons, markers, watercolors, etc.).
    • A circular object (or a couple) to trace. (I used empty tape rolls, but you can use whatever you have on hand)

Step #1: Begin by drawing circles onto your paper—using a pencil. Your circles can be by themselves, overlapping, or going off the edge of the page. I recommend that you use something to trace the circles. Look around you and find things that are circles. Finally, fill the entire page with partial and complete circles.

Step #2: Draw a small circle in the center of each of the bigger circles you’ve made. This will represent the center of your citrus slice.

Step #3: Draw triangles to represent the inside slices of each piece of citrus. Start your triangle from the center, moving your pencil toward the edge of your circle. After that, draw each triangle next to your last one until you’ve made your way all around the circle. Repeat this step for all of the circles on your page.

Have fun with this step! Your citrus doesn’t have to be uniform. It is okay if the triangles aren’t all the same size. Real fruit is irregular too!

Step #4. Add color to the outlines of each circle, the inner circle, and inside your triangles. I use a variety of shades of the same color to add visual interest. I’ve used green for limes, pink for grapefruits, orange for oranges, and yellow for lemons. You can also use different mediums together to create variation. For example, you can use crayons, colored pencils, and markers!

Tip: I use the darkest shade of each color to go over my pencil lines so that they don’t show.

Step #5: Next, choose a background color to complement the citrus slices you’ve drawn. Start by outlining your citrus slices with the background color you chose.

Step #6: After tracing all of the citrus slices, fill in the rest of the background to create a beautiful summer art activity that is “fresh” and fun!

If you decide to create any of my art projects, I would love to see your students’ work. Feel free to tag me (@artwithjennyk or #artwithjennyk) on social media so I can see what they create! You’ll find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! 

Thanks for reading, 
Jenny K.