The Starry Night

Over the last couple of days we've been talking about the night sky, what can you see in the sky, stars the moon, aeroplane lights and fireworks. This afternoon I showed them a picture of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and we looked at Katie and The Starry Night

I had this idea that if we used shaving foam and paint they could have fun and recreate some of the swirling images from the painting. It wasn't about recreating a perfect copy of the painting rather them exploring the movement and images. I did think about cutting out some houses etc for them to add to it, if I do it again when they are older I might add them, then again I might just wait and see what they want to add themselves, as it's always interesting seeing what they see and what they take from a painting.

 

As per usually here, once we had finished the planned activity they were let loose to do and create (within reason) whatever they wanted! Using a spatula they mixed the paint and foam together and created a lovely mint green.

Then they added more foam and used their hands to mix it in.

One then decided to use the spatula to paint with

and the finished spatula painting.

Then they asked for some more paper and decided to place the paper in the tray on top of the remaining foam, press it down and then lifting it out to see what they had created.

When I'm doing a theme, I always sort out a selection of relevant books and put them into a basket for the children. They have enjoyed looking at books on owls and reading some owl stories. I printed out laminated a tree and 5 owls to go with the 5 Little Owl rhyme, they have loved this counting rhyme and the owl pictures. We have sang the song and played with the owl pictures several times. Lots of counting done as well, as each time an owl flies away they are counting the owls left on the tree. Yes one owl is upside down, when I first put them on the tree, I pointed out one was upside down, I went to turn him the right way up but they said no and now every time they have to have one upside down owl!

5 Little Owls

5 little owls on a dark, dark night,

5 little owls are quite a sight,

5 little owls, are you keeping score?

1 flies away and that leaves 4.

4 little owls as happy as can be,

1 flew away and that leaves 3.

3 little owls calling "Who, who, who"

1 flew away and that leaves 2.

2 little owls having lots of fun,

1 flew away and that leaves 1.

1 little owl and we're almost done

He flies away and that leaves none.