How To Create Vincent Van Gogh Art With Toddlers and Preschoolers: Kids can learn about and paint sunflowers like Vincent Van Gogh! Just give them the materials (canvas, paint, paintbrushes, inspiration), and they’re good to go! Incorporate art into learning for fun STEAM activities like this one.
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How to: The Artwork
Supplies:
- Canvas panels [or canvases or card stock] (one for each child)
- Sunflower bouquet
- Yellow tempera paint
- Green tempera paint
- Brown tempera paint
- Paintbrushes (three per child)
Directions:
This one is pretty simple. First have your kids look at the bouquet of sunflowers on the table. Then, show them the flower stems, the brown centers, and the petals. Further, ask them about the different colors and shapes that they see. Next, guide them through drawing lines on the paper for the stems, circles for the flower centers, and ovals for the flower petals. (Key word is “guide!” Finally, don’t force them to make perfect flowers! Let them explore the sunflower colors and shapes on their own!)
That’s it! Just let them paint sunflowers! (Or let them cover a canvas panel in sunflower-colored paint!
How To: The Program
My Young Artists class allows 2-5 year olds to explore art and engage the senses to help them understand the world around them. Exploring famous artists and their work allows kids to see that they are capable of making beautiful, creative artwork. Plus, exploring famous artists provides a unique way to teach children about basic art techniques.
Group Activity:
Since we were going to paint circles on our flowers, I wanted the kids to practice recognizing circles. So I gave them each a bunch of recyclable circle items and set them up around a giant piece of paper I cut from a roll of bulletin board paper. Next, I put out a bunch of paper plates with paint on them. Then, I asked the kids to use the items as paintbrushes, stamping circles into the paint and then finally on to the paper! Voila! Circles! (We used pom poms, muffin liners, paper towel tubes, plastic cups.)
Group Conversation:
- What do you think is going on in this painting?
- Where do you think this is? Why do you think that?
- What shapes can we find?
- How do you think Van Gogh made this?
- Tell me about the colors that you see?
- What season do you think it is?
- What are the different parts of a flower?
If you wanted to read a book, you could try Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt. It’s about a girl who meets Vincent Van Gogh and becomes friends with him. And it has a special emphasis on Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings.
Individual Art:
It’s time for painting! First, keep Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in view and bring out the real bouquet! Then, talk about those stems, centers, and petals! And finally let them paint as they wish! They’ll come up with some unique looking sunflowers, and that’s okay because it is more about them learning from the process than you ending up with a perfect product.
We all need some more art inspired by important artists! Try these!
- Georges Seurat Inspired Process Art (Painting with Bricks)
- How to Paint with Blocks and Learn About Paul Klee
- Fireworks Painting Inspired by James Abbott McNeill Whistler
- Shapes and Colors with Sonia Delaunay
- Da Vinci’s Kid-Friendly Frescoes