Starry Starry Night

I decided it was time to break out a lesson on the ever-popular Starry Night for my 2nd graders.  I found this fun video on You Tube that I shared with the class before we began our painting:

I went over Van Gogh's textural use of paint & his depiction of movement and rhythm.  This was a very messy project, so I suggest a tall cup of coffee to any of my adventurous colleagues beginning this lesson.  First, we worked with dark blue paint for the sky.  Next, I had the students dip a fork in white and yellow to mimic the effect of impasto and Van Gogh's brushstrokes.  Then, we added yellow dots to the sky and circled around them with the forks.  The students then worked on the mountains & the ground, first with a solid color and then dipping their fork in contrasting colors to add the impasto effect.  Lastly, we painted the large tree in the foreground with black & used brown on the fork to add texture.

Step 2 was creating the houses for the little village in the second class period.  It was just too much to do this in day 1, so I thought it would be best to wait until the paint has dried.  When I passed out their paintings I asked them to compare and contrast their paintings to Van Gogh's painting and think about what we need to add to make ours more similar to the original Starry Night.  They pointed out things like the moon, the houses, and smaller trees & bushes.  I had the students draw the objects on white paper, color them with colored pencils, and glue them to the background.  Voila!

Sidney's painting

Brian's painting

Alan's painting

Aaliyah B.'s painting