This Vincent Van Gogh Starry Night Art Project for kids is part of my first grade curriculum. Because it is very process-oriented, it is excellent for young kids who are eager to explore and experiment with new materials.
Famous Artist Series from Kids Art Projects 101
This approach is awesome because it layers art history connections with guided instruction about the elements of art and principles of design. The scripted PowerPoint format can be easily utilized in a variety of settings. In this video I share specific tips and considerations to help you implement the unit with ease.
Watch the video, or read the transcript below if you prefer.
~VIDEO TRANSCRIPT~
Hi Everyone!
I am excited to present the sixth installation in our famous artist series. This one is all about Vincent Van Gogh. The purpose of this video is to give you an overview of how I’ve set up this unit so that once you start it with your kiddos you can hit the ground running. So let’s dive right in.
This unit is organized into four distinct sessions, ideally 40 minutes each. Obviously, you can modify these components to suit your situation.
VINCENT VAN GOGH ART PROJECT SESSION 1
Van Gogh Digital Storybook
For the first session, you’re going to be presenting a digital storybook alongside several of Van Gogh’s paintings. Of course, Van Gogh is known for his incredible portraits and his incredible flower stillifes, but this particular unit is all about his landscapes.
We are going to start off by looking at his most famous landscape, Starry Night. After getting them familiar with that, we’re going to follow up with several others to help focus kids’ attention on the sky. Van Gogh’s fascination with the sky is one of those things that is pretty relatable and universal for young kids. His approach to color and movement in the sky is really our inspiration for the studio project in this unit.
Exploring Sky Color Activity
After looking at several examples of how he made the sky one of the main characters in so many of his paintings, you’re going to explain that they will soon be creating their own sky-centered landscape!
You are going to present and explore the sky color with a worksheet. They’ll use crayons or colored pencils with this and it basically offers them four very sky-heavy landscapes. You can help them understand that that’s a picture of a place but it’s not a picture of any specific place. The details in a landscape help decide where exactly that place is.
There’s so much sky space in there because the whole idea with this handout is that they will let the sky be the main character in each of these little pictures. They’re going to let the title of each picture control that sky’s personality.
- The first is The Starry Night
- The second is The Stormy Afternoon
- The third is The Fiery Sunset
- The last one is for fun!
They have the opportunity to insert their own title, so if there’s a type of sky that they’ve been thinking about and that they really want to try, this is a great option to give them some time to express that.
I have a completed one in the slideshow that you can show them, but this certainly is not meant to be the example that they need to copy, it’s just an example. I always get nervous when I share a finished example because of the “Oh, that is what I need to do. I will copy this one” sort of feeling. So try to make it clear to them that this is just an example. Then, once you get that done, they’re basically done. That finishes up the first session!
VINCENT VAN GOGH ART PROJECT SESSION 2
Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds
The second session is super fun. You’re going to have them get into that creative mindset again thinking about the sky with a really cute book by Peter Reynolds called Sky Color.
If you don’t have it or are not familiar with it, I highly recommend you check it out. Check with your library, or you can purchase a copy, or you can find a free read-aloud online on YouTube. I encourage you to go whichever route feels easiest for you.
After you read it to them, you can ask them questions like: What do you think Marisol, the main character in the story, would think of Van Gogh’s use of sky color?
Just see what they have to say. I’m sure they’ll have all kinds of fun answers. Then, you will quickly transition into a discussion of how they will be creating their sky prints.
Start the Studio Project
They’re going to be using aluminum foil, and I recommend you arrange this before working with them. Tape it onto a workspace or a tray if you have one. If not, you can tape it directly to a table. Then you’re going to be drizzling some paint directly onto the foil.
They’ll use their fingers to spread the paint around on the foil’s slick surface. If you don’t have foil, you could do this on Saran Wrap, an aluminum cookie sheet, or directly on the table if you’re not worried about staining it.
You’ll be doing this paint activity during Session Two twice.
The first time, they’ll use white, medium blue, and dark blue tempera. They’ll smear this paint all over the foil. They can play with spiral lines like we see in Vincent’s Starry Night, but they can also do rays. They can have fun with it. However, they end up designing it with their fingers.
Next, have them write their name on the back of a sheet of paper and have them very carefully lay the paper down on top of the foil and paint. Then, gently rub the back of the paper, peel it up to reveal its design, and put that picture somewhere to dry.
When you are finished with the blue sky and put that picture away to dry, you’ll have them take a rag or paper towel and wipe up all that blue paint.
Once the foils are cleaned, wiped off, and dry (you don’t want to leave that foil wet because the water pools on top of the foil), you will go around and drizzle white, orange, and yellow paint.
So again, the same idea. I would encourage them to try the second one with a different approach: just smear it around with their fingers. Maybe they should use one hand for the smearing so that they can use their other hand to grab the paper, push it down, and rub it.
The idea with both of these is that they will have two prints, one blue and one orange. They leave those to dry, which is the end of Session Two!
VINCENT VAN GOGH ART PROJECT SESSION 3
Finish the Studio Project
So, for Session Three, you’re going to need those dry prints. You’ll present some fun facts real quick about the Starry Starry Night painting, but then you’ll very quickly transition into the actual studio component. That’s all about adding that Skyline.
Now, I include this one in the slideshow but I encourage you to think about lots of different options. You’re handing them a black rectangle, and they’ll get a white crayon and draw a line halfway across this rectangle from side to side. What they do with that line is going to control their skyline, so it just depends on what kind of landscape they are going for.
- If it is a straight line, it’ll be kind of straightforward just the land.
- If you put curves you’re going to get a hillside.
- If you put a zigzag you might get like mountain top type of look.
- Then if you make it jagged, up sideways, down sideways, up sideways, down sideways, that’s where you get that kind of cityscape-type of look.
Those are all words you can toss out to them and point out and help them make a choice. Then they cut on that line. Then once they cut they have two basic black shapes they can use.
Another option is to cut your own out of chipboard, cardboard, or cardstock. You are cutting a natural jagged line from a rectangle. I sat there and made some points on some of these just to give it a little more of a dynamic look.
Then, they could lay that on top of their own black paper, trace it, and then cut it. So you know your kids. Whatever you feel comfortable offering them. Just be aware that those are some options to simplify that if they’re struggling. Encourage them to flip it over so they have some control over how it looks.
Once they get it how they like it, they’ll use a glue stick to glue it to their print. You want to emphasize to them that they need to glue it to the bottom edge because some kids will want to put it right down the middle. So, encourage them to get it all the way down to the bottom because we want to leave the sky as open as possible.
If time permits and the interest is there, you can also offer them a piece of yellow construction paper that can be used to add some windows. These are just little yellow random scraps. But we cut those into little tiny rectangles and just glued them randomly onto that landscape component to give it the look of windows.
You could also cut these into little circles or little stars, sun, and moon shapes and put them up in the sky if interested. So that’s just an extra option to consider.
That brings us to the end of Session Three!
VINCENT VAN GOGH ART PROJECT SESSION 4
Lesson Review
So the fourth session is all about reviewing what they’ve learned so far. You are offered a digital review which is all scripted in the slideshow. You can modify that. I put a ton of blank sides if you’re interested in adding your own details to that review.
Art Show
Then you have an art show where you encourage all the kids to spread out their work on a tabletop or on the floor and get them to talk.
Talk about what they like. Talk about what they don’t like. Talk about what they would do differently if they did this over again. Get them looking at the spirals. Get them looking for kids who may have interpreted it in a different way. Maybe somebody did zigzag lines or dash lines.
I put a few prompts in the slideshow that can guide your group discussion, but you can also allow that conversation to happen organically. Kids don’t always need a scripted prompt to discuss their art, they love to talk about their stuff.
Self-Assessment
The last component is the self-assessment. It’s a very similar format to what you’ve seen if you’ve been trying out the other projects. It is four questions and a little rubric format where they rate themselves. If you don’t feel inclined to print this for every one of your kiddos (I don’t know how many kids you’re working with) but you could also just present this digitally. You could just ask them a question and have them rate themselves quietly, something for them to think about or share their answer with a partner.
The prompts are:
- I swirled paint around on foil.
That was a big fun component in this project, that tactile swirling of the paint on that slip surface. You want them to think about how they handled that component.
- I pressed the paper onto the foil to make two prints.
Stamping fresh paper on the foil was a huge component of this project. You want them thinking, “How did I do with that part? Did I smear it? Was I too careless? Was I playing too much? Did mine come out fantastic?”
- I used scissors and glue to add a skyline to my print.
So that’s where they really think about Session Three. How did they do with that black paper, even if they tore it or came up with their own creative solution? Did the outcome yield something that they felt excited about and proud of?
- I used my materials carefully and tried my best on this project.
So that’s an important thing for them to consider in every project they do. “What did I do here? Was I trying hard, being careful, and being safe?”
The last section, as always, is a little opportunity for you to make some personal comments directly to the kids. If you print it out with the finished project, you can send it home. That helps us reach the finish line!
Early Finisher Suggestions
I did include an early finisher suggestion if kids have the time at the end of any session in the unit or just have an interest in doing a little more. Just put the Starry Night on display and let them try to copy what they see.
Copying is not bad. People get scared of that word, but honestly, so many kids enjoy doing that with that specific painting that I don’t resist it when they want to in my room. They just have fun trying their own interpretation of that image.
So, if you can, put that on display. If you have a poster or a digital display of it, it is another option. There are a ton of other art projects for kids that you can connect to Vincent Van Gogh. This is just one of them, maybe we’ll try some different ones in the future.
If you are inclined to share some feedback about this, I would love to hear it. I would love to see pictures if you are willing to share any of your kids in action. I hope you enjoy it and have fun!
More About the Vincent Van Gogh Art Unit
Engage young artists in a project-based study of Vincent van Gogh and sky colors in this series of elementary art lessons. Use the done-for-you digital storybook to look at the imaginative Starry Night and introduce students to a brief history of Vincent van Gogh. Then use the digital presentation with step-by-step art project directions to guide students as they paint and collage their own imaginative night scenes, creating a unique mixed-media landscape.
Inside the unit you’ll find everything you need in the 23-page unit guide full of information and tips for teaching this series of elementary art lessons to students in preschool through grade 2.
✨You don’t need a lot of background knowledge of the artist or art curriculum, and you don’t have to do any extra research to teach these art lessons. I’ve included all the details here for you to open and go. Think of how much time you’ll save on planning!
The van Gogh unit is broken down into four 40-minute sessions.
For each session there is a guided presentation that has already been prepared for you and can be used via Google Slides or PowerPoint. The presentation also introduces and guides you through completion of a studio art project and follow-up activity.
The 98-page combined PDF and Google Slides full resource includes:
- An original digital storybook designed to expose students to famous artworks and details about Vincent Van Gogh
- A printable “Exploring Sky Color” activity
- A literacy connection to Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds
- A digital step-by-step studio project guide with clear directions, supply lists, and work sample photos
- Quick fun facts
- A digital lesson review to help kids remember the details we’ve focused on in this unit
- An art show prompt with guided questions to help young artists actively and appropriately participate in the art show critique
- A printable self-assessment so kids can monitor their own progress and understanding of the project
- Early finisher suggestions
- Blank slide templates
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