There are so many projects involving animals and plants. I like that this assignment has the students sketch the animal as a silhouette and then fill with plants. The challenge is to include the branches and/or roots as if the plant grew into an animal. Students are allowed to have it in black and white, like my example, or in watercolor with flowers blooming off the branches.

A great artist to reference is Italian based artist Alfred Basha . I also like Calvin T for his cherry blossom animals.