2 sessions; 35 minutes per session

1. SWBAT create swirly lines like Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night using oil pastels and paint.
2. SWBAT cut an oval, 4 rectangles, and a zig-zag mountain range out of construction paper.
3. SWBAT create a mixed-media painting inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

1. Construction paper (white for the background-but you can use dark blue if you don't want to paint the sky, black-silhouette).
2. Tempera paint (blue)
3. Oil Pastel (white, yellow)
4. Brushes
5. Scissors
6. Books about Vincent van Gogh's art (Vincent's Colors, Vincent van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars, etc.)

Need these materials? Visit Blick!

Day 1:
1. Read about Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh in any of the Vincent van Gogh books listed in materials.
-Show students an image of the painting and talk about it.
-Discuss why might the shapes near the bottom of the image look dark? (it's night time)
2. On the Smart board, pull up an image of Starry Night.
-Demonstrate how to draw swirls on the image-call students to try as well.
3. At their seats, students use white and yellow pastel to draw the swirls using short lines like Vincent did in Starry Night.
4. Have students paint over the pastel lines using the blue tempera paint. Let dry.

Day 2:
1. Look at pictures of your town using the Smart board.
-Discuss what students see (mountains, hills, water tower-the key is to have them find a landmark that would work as the cypress tree).
2. Discuss that since Starry Night is a painting at night, we are going to make one of our town by cutting shapes out of black paper and gluing it to our skies to create a silhouette.
3. Outline the water tower using the pen tool on the Smart board.
-Discuss with students the shapes that make up the water tower (oval, rectangles).
4. Outline the mountains in the same way.
-What type of line looks like a mountain? (zig-zag)
5. At their seats, students cut an oval, 4 rectangles, and a rectangle with a zig zag top (to make the mountains).
-Assist where needed (I found that I needed to help students draw the oval so they could cut it at the right size).
6. Glue pieces onto the starry sky.
7.Let dry.

1. Vincent's Colors by Vincent van Gogh and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
2. Vincent van Gogh (Sunflowers and Swirly Stars) by Joan Holub

I have 5 different kindergarten classes and tried this lesson differently with almost each class. I loved the way this lesson turned out with painting the sky, but you could use blue construction paper and omit the painting if you have to. This was a fun way to teach about van Gogh, mixed-media art, and their town!

Vincent van Gogh

Expressionism

Shape, Movement, Line, Color/Value

Paper, Painting, Mixed Media, Pastel, Tempera

English/Language Arts, Geography