You may have noticed that I don’t post a lot about “famous art” here on The Art Curator for Kids. While I love many famous works, there is so much to study. And the internet has paintings like The Starry Night covered (including recent recognition of Van Gogh’s apparent grasp of movement and light – astonishingly scientifically ahead of his time!).
That being said, I have been DYING to try this melted crayon watercolor resist project from The Artful Parent. I thought mixing that project with some art discussion with my littles would be a perfect combination.
Everyone loves this painting and for good reason. The swirly bold lines just capture our hearts. In my history of teaching about this painting, some students find the painting makes them happy and others feel the pain in it. I love how this one painting can make people react in different ways.
Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889
Preschool Starry Night Discussion
I showed the painting to my two girls, aged 3 and 6.
- What do you see? We started with just a simple, tell me what you see exercise. They noticed the swirly lines, the stars, the buildings, and they thought the cyprus tree was a castle.
- I had them describe the lines in the painting, and we practiced drawing the swirls with our fingers in the air. We compared the different types of line in the picture
- I asked how this painting made them feel. I wasn’t expecting them to have an answer to it, and I was right.
Side note: With older students, The Starry Night is great for writing poems inspired by art!
Melted Crayon Watercolor Resist
Head over to The Artful Parent to learn how to do this project. We followed her directions exactly with beautiful results! The only guidance I gave was to draw different types of lines, but I left it up to the girls to do what they wanted.
I really love how they turned out! Aren’t they lovely?
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