Last week, Natalie and I sat down to chat without any real plan to create anything. She shared that her Grade 4 class was diving into Animal Adaptations in science. They'd already researched what adaptations are, how animals specialize to their environment, and the difference between behavioral and physical adaptations. The students were working in Canva to create posters about fictional animals they'd designed for specific environments. In previous years, classes had made creatures out of plasticine or drawn them on paper.
The project immediately reminded me of Pokémon, so I threw out a new idea – why not make Pokémon-inspired trading cards? We could include stat blocks, biomes, adaptations, and awesome artwork of their creatures!
Switching Gears
Natalie loved the concept but worried it might be too late to switch gears. She invited me into her class at the end of the day to pitch the idea. Though the students were already working on their data sheets, she had them pause so I could present the trading card concept. We held an anonymous vote (heads down, hands up) to choose between restarting with cards or continuing their current project. The verdict was clear – the class voted 2:1 to restart!
The students poured their research into the Canva template and got to choose ratings for their creatures' skills. Each student had five numbers to work with: +2, +1, 0, -1, and -2. These had to be distributed across their creature's strength, speed, smarts, attack, and defense – and each number could only be used once. This made every choice strategic, ensuring each creature had both strengths and weaknesses. The whole system was inspired by the Six Abilities used in creating Dungeons and Dragons characters.
I was blown away by how detailed the students got and how perfectly their adaptations matched their chosen biomes. The best part? Natalie plans to get the cards printed at a smaller size to create a deck for the whole class! Wow just wow!
Now we just need to develop some rules so these creatures can battle each other!
Artist Spotlight 🖌️
This project reminded us of @yahyarushdan on instagram. He draws some incredible cards based on daily prompts. His style is a mashup of comic and illustration with a lovely watercolour palette. Definitely worth a follow.