Van Gogh Sunflowers, 2nd Grade

I love anything having to do with Van Gogh, and usually my kids do too. Once I show them he's the guy who did Starry Night, they are hooked. That image is so etched into their minds, it's an icon to them. So, with this project I wanted to show them his famous Sunflowers painting. The sad thing was, most classes ran out of time (I am seeing the last batches of students this past week and next week), that they aren't completely finished, but this is how they are going home.

I really hit hard on overlapping, going off the paper (cropping), and making their flowers appear realistic. 2nd to 3rd grade for me is where that big leap happens. In 3rd grade we really hit home more realistic drawing.

We used oil pastels for these. Drew the vase first, then the centers of the flowers. I had them draw a total of 6...one was supposed to go off the paper, and some should be ovals and some circles. Then, we drew the stems and I do a funny little lesson on what NOT to do (or what they would have done in Kindergarten or First Grade), and it makes them laugh, and realize how silly that was. They are determined to make them look realistic and overlap after that. I like the way they turned out even under crunched time.