Frida Kahlo Self Portraits

Self-Portraits with Animal Friends inspired by Frida Kahlo

2nd grade self-portraits inspired by Frida Kahlo are as joyful as the artist herself. Students practice drawing a face step by step, then make the portrait their own with an animal friend and a nature-patterned background. It’s a favorite for Hispanic Heritage Month, and so much fun any time of year!

Introducing Frida Kahlo

We begin by getting to know Frida with my Frida Kahlo slideshow. Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico, and she is most famous for her self-portraits: she painted more than 50 of them, often by studying herself in a mirror, because she was, in her words, “the subject I know best.” Students love discovering that Frida’s pet monkeys and parrots appear right in her paintings, keeping her company on the canvas. Her portraits glow with the bright colors of Mexican folk art, and many of them celebrate the nature, landmarks, and people of Mexico. When the Louvre in Paris bought one of her paintings, she became the first modern Mexican artist to have work in its collection!

Frida mixed realism with a little fantasy in her work, but when people called her paintings dream-like, she disagreed: “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” Even though she was often sick, Frida believed in living life to the fullest. On her very last painting she wrote the words “Viva la Vida,” which is Spanish for “Live Life.” That joyful spirit shows up in the children’s portraits too.

Those animal companions and lush, leafy backgrounds are exactly what students borrow for this project. Everyone draws their own face, chooses their own animal friend, and designs their own natural background, so no two portraits come out the same.

Days 1–2: A Face, Step by Step

Frida made her self-portraits by looking closely at herself, and students do the same. Following the steps on my step-by-step portrait handout, students draw a large oval in the center of their paper for the head, then add the eyes, nose, and mouth. Getting these steps right can take an entire class period, and that’s fine: careful looking is the skill this project builds. (If you have hand mirrors available, this is the perfect time to pass them out, just like Frida used.)

Once the face is drawn, students add ears, hair, a neck, and shoulders. The shoulders continue into arms that travel all the way down to the bottom of the paper. If a student drew their head on the small side, they can simply draw more of the torso to fill the bottom of the page.

Days 2–4: Animal Friends and Nature Backgrounds

Several of Frida’s portraits include birds, butterflies, or monkeys, and this is where the project gets really fun. Using the handout as a guide, students add an animal friend to their portrait like Frida often did. I give students the liberty to choose a different animal, or no animal at all: it’s their portrait.

After the drawing is complete, students color in their portraits and animals. Crayons are a great choice for 2nd graders, and colored pencils work well for the smaller details. Be sure students leave the background blank for now: the nature patterns come last.

Many of Frida’s portraits have leaves or flowers filling the background, so once students finish coloring their portraits and animals, they design a background of natural patterns and color that in as well. If your schedule needs everyone finishing around the same time, students who took extra care on their portraits can create a simpler background, while quick finishers can challenge themselves with a more detailed one. You can even use texture rubbing plates for this step. The finished portraits, with their animal friends and blooming backgrounds, make a lovely bulletin board display!

If you’d like this lesson ready to teach, my Frida Kahlo slideshow and art lesson bundle includes the full artist slideshow, the step-by-step lesson plan, and the portrait handout that walks students through both the face and the animal friends. The bundle also includes a Frida Kahlo coloring page and word search, which give quick finishers a perfect place to land. It’s the whole project in one download, so you can spend your prep time on other things.

If you’re planning for Hispanic Heritage Month, Frida pairs beautifully with the other artists on my 20 Great Hispanic Artists list.

If you teach about artists all year long, my free Artist Reference Guide is a handy companion: 200 artists spanning 8 centuries and 6 continents, each listed with their dates, nationality, style, and medium. Subscribe to the All About Art newsletter below and I’ll send it your way.





Click here for more K-8 Art Lessons inspired by great artists!

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