3rd grade: Blast Off!! with Vincent van Gogh

I'm not sure if I have ever let one year get by without doing a project based on van Gogh's Starry Night.....This year I decided to try something new with my 3rd graders after seeing a print that inspired me from Pinterest.

On day one, I had students trace yogurt lids on blue paper and add dashes and dots using the warm colors plus white. I also asked them to include a moon and anything else they felt appropriate to add to the night sky and the feeling of motion.

On day two, we talked about foreground, middle ground and background. Each student received three pieces of green paper in different shades and applied oil pastel in a dashing method. I asked them to cut off the top portion to create some interesting land forms before gluing down.

For the last day of this project, I showed some rocket ship illustrations and students got busy creating their own rocket ship/flying saucer/space shuttle using the collage technique. Oil pastel details were added last as well as an outline to really make everything pop!