I've always enjoyed using Van Gogh's Starry Night and Neil Waldman's picturebook by the same name as a springboard with students in Visual Art, but I have never tried it in Kindergarten before, until this morning! Thankfully, another Kindergarten teacher loaned me her student teacher who very kindly helped out with newspaper, water, and paint prep.
Rather than reading them the picturebook first, I simply showed them the Art Image, and asked them to think about what time of day it was, how they knew, and what the name of this artwork might be. We also considered how the artist had achieved all the colours in the sky, and I drew their attention to the swirling mix of line and colour in the piece.
Then we painted. I gave them only red, yellow and blue. Any additional colours, they had to mix. I was amazed at the rainbow of tints and shades many of them came up with, and how some of them really got the concept of experimenting with blending and circling. I was amused at how some of the children incorporated themselves into their artwork, even though the original Van Gogh did not include any people, hehe.
At the end, I read aloud the book to the students. Several of them recognized the artwork on the final page of the story, and got very excited about it! (And for those who didn't, at least it was a first exposure to this popular artist's work.)
Then we painted. I gave them only red, yellow and blue. Any additional colours, they had to mix. I was amazed at the rainbow of tints and shades many of them came up with, and how some of them really got the concept of experimenting with blending and circling. I was amused at how some of the children incorporated themselves into their artwork, even though the original Van Gogh did not include any people, hehe.
At the end, I read aloud the book to the students. Several of them recognized the artwork on the final page of the story, and got very excited about it! (And for those who didn't, at least it was a first exposure to this popular artist's work.)
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