A great work of art such as Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' can stimulate children's imaginations and awaken the desire to express themselves in an original way. Learning about the artist, meanwhile, provides opportunities for developing their vocabulary and understanding of the past.
We turned our attention to this famous painting as part of our topic on growing. To be inventive we mixed our own special paints and adopted the painting techniques used by Van Gogh. The results sparked a lot of discussion both at home and in the nursery.
Planned learning intentions
To explore colour, texture, shape, form and space in two and three dimensions
To express and communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings by using a widening range of materials
To handle tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control
To extend their vocabulary, exploring the meanings and sounds of new words Resources
Large print of Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' and other photographs of his work A3 white paper orange, yellow and green poster paints flour palette or round-ended knife palette or medium-sized lid paper towels three spoons
Step by step
* Look at the paintings and talk about the artist, keeping the details simple. Tell children that Van Gogh was born on 30 March 1853, a long time ago, and that he is not alive any more - he would be 148 years old if he were. (Talk about parents', carers' and grandparents' ages to develop the children's understanding of time.) You may want to say that he was only 37 when he died. I decided against telling children the story of him cutting off his ear, as they were intrigued enough by the fact that he wasn't alive any more!
* Next, discuss the painting: What type of flowers can they see? How many are there? What are they standing in? Can they seen the stems, petals, leaves, seeds?
* Now focus on the medium: What colours are used? What type of paint? (oil paints) What did he use to paint the picture? (palette knife).
* Explain that oil paints are expensive and difficult to use, and that they are going to make their own special paint. With the children, mix the flour into the poster paint (the thicker the better).
* Let the children spoon the colours on to a palette or lid and introduce the knife, to be used instead of a paintbrush.
* Talk about the part of the flower that the children want to paint first and paint it by gliding the knife over the paper.
* Paint the rest of the flower in the same way, using a different colour for each part. I found that letting the children wipe their knife on a paper towel after each colour prevented it all merging into a brownish mess.
Display
Sunflowers can make a really eye-catching display.
Resources
Brown wrapping paper orange, yellow and green paint paintbrushes old material green and yellow border orange mounts Van Gogh print labels Step by step
* Cover the board with brown paper, then cover any nearby equipment and the floor with old material.
* Using paintbrushes, flick specks of the paint at the board to create the effect of a canvas. (Leave the material around the board to catch the drips.)
* While the paint is drying, mount the children's work on orange paper. You could also mount the 'Sunflowers' print.
* Arrange the pictures on the board using pins so it is easy to move them if they don't look right. Don't clutter up the display with too many paintings.
* Once satisfied with the finished look, staple the pictures. Try to staple in the corner of the mounts at the same angle; lots of silver staples can spoil a display.
* Finally, label the display with catchy captions and name each child's work.
* Create a table display in front of the board. I covered the table with green cloth and green tissue paper and put wooden blocks underneath for depth.
* On the table I displayed books such as Tilda's Seeds by Melanie Eclare (Ragged Bears Publishing, 8.50). Alongside the books I placed some sunflower seeds and magnifying glasses, a dried sunflower head, and artificial sunflowers.
Many thanks to Carol Ketteridge for the original activity idea. Nina Massey and Carol Ketteridge are nursery nurses at Homerton Nursery School, Cambridge
