Van Gogh Art Project for Kids

Van Gogh is a name every young child knows, and Starry Night is the title they remember! Uses this fun technique to create movement on your canvas.

Van Gogh Art Project Materials:

Black Construction Paper
White School Glue
Oil Pastels
VanGogh Artist Card

Using your white glue, begin to draw the dark shape in the foreground. This will outline the main tree and the village in the distance. It might help to view Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting while you draw.

Add in your horizon line, accounting for the hills and the village below. These are simpl shapes without much detail. We are basically outlining things that we can add color, texture and detail too later on.

Begin to add in some swirls in the background. Keep the path continuous behind the tree as it is in the foreground. The starry sky is in the background so be sure you draw with the glue so that it appears behind the shapes.

Continue buiding your image with glue. Make the stars with circles and curved lines radiating outwards from them.

Be sure to add in the moon and lots of stars, making sure your glue is moving around them, and filling in all the empty space with movement.

Allow your glue to dry for a few hours. It will almost disappear but you’ll still be able to see it and feel it. When your glue is dry, provide children with Oil Pastels.

Begin to draw over the lines you made with your glue. When you draw over the glue, you’ll begin to see different textures coming through

Use different colors of clue and white along your lines. Show children how to choose a variety of different hues of the same color to create depth and interest.

Highlight with white and yellow on top of your blues and for your stars. Use darker yellows to draw in your Moon and Stars along the path of the glue.

Use black and purple to add shadow and depth to the image in the foreground. Black down the left side and purple down the right sides. Overlap the colors a bit in the middle and blend them a little.

Color in your village. Use dark colors in the background and whites and yellows for the buildings. Add in a little light blue to highlight areas in the darkness.

Stand back and marvel at your beautiful Starry Night masterpiece! These look wonderful when mounted on a classroom bulletin board, or framed with black construction paper.