Van Gogh Sunflowers

 

If you don't know about the Art of Ed website, you don't know what you are missing! They have wonderful lesson plans. One that I really like to do with my kindergarten and first graders is Van Gogh Sunflowers click here for your free download. While there check out what else they have!

I start off this lesson by showing my students a photo of Dali's Basket of Bread. We talk about how we can see the basket, however we can't feel the texture of the basket. Then I pass a wicker basket around for students to feel. We then continue the discussion of texture you can feel and texture you can see. I show students some examples that I made of visual texture on a board along with the actual texture next to it.

 I read them van Gogh and the Sunflowers. I also share a calendar of van Gogh's art where the photos are large enough to see the wonderful texture in his work.

Then I take them step by step through the directions. They glue the black paper to the bottom of the orange paper. I did change out the directions for the vase as I showed them how to fold the paper to make it symmetrical.

 

 I encouraged students to try ripping the paper, but not everyone was happy with that concept.

 

 

 We used a glue stick for most of the gluing and liquid glue for the tissue paper and seeds.

 

 And of course, children were instructed to sign their name along the middle of the vase, just like van Gogh.

Still loving the storyboard presentation. Have any of you tried teaching your lesson with a storyboard?

Crayon Non-Resist

 

If we have students color art with crayons and later paint over the art with watercolor paint, we call it a crayon resist. However, what if we have the students use the paint first and then color over the paint (when dry, of course) with crayons? Would that be a crayon non-resist?

Regardless of what we decide to call it, that's what I did when I introduced the art of 

Vincent Van Gogh to my little ones. First I read them this book:

Also, shared some of the art posters that I have of his work. Then I demonstrated and modeled my expectations for using watercolors. Originally I wanted my students to do sunflowers, then I decided after watching them paint-and how they were really getting into it-why put limits on them.

IT'S ART!

 

 

Painting flowers was also a good opportunity to expand our vocabulary!

 Such as subject, still life, texture, shadow..........

 

The following week when students returned to art I brought out the texture rubbing plates.

 (The photo above is from the Blick catalog because mine are all packed up.)

We reviewed what we learned the previous week about Vincent Van Gogh and how his art had sooo much texture and we needed to add some texture to our art. We also needed to sign our vases just like he did! Of course not everyone agreed with me......

 

 

 

This was not the first time I did a crayon non-resist. I did it several years ago with a focus on Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers. 

 

Something a little different! Something that was a lot of fun! 

Have you ever done a crayon non-resist with your students? 

Am I the only one to go about things, let's just say differently?

Thanks for reading!!

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