reflective monets

We're totally on a Monet kick in Kindergarten and the kids LOVE it! This week we talked about reflection and how reflections are opposites. For this project we used 12x18 turquoise paper, oil pastel, and tempera paints. There are other supplies we needed, like sponge daubers (sponges clipped into clothespins) as well as q-tips. More on that later!

Beginning with a pre-folded paper, the kids drew "water" in oil pastel below the fold. We used blue, green, purple, and white. They also drew the footbridge above the water, and then we talked about how to make it reflective below the horizon line as well.

Using my magical "sponge daubers" (cut sponge in clothespins!) the students sponge-painted bushes along the horizon line and mossy trees along the sides of the papers.

They used yellow for a little accent to blend with the green, to make it look like the sun was shining on the leaves. We also talked about how Monet would paint at different times of the day to achieve different results. The kids decided this was painted during "lunchtime because the sun is really hot then and it's bright".

The students then used q-tips to add orange and pink flowers to the bushes. We used oil pastel to reflect these, as well, in the pond.

As you can see, Monet's garden has made quite an impression on my Kindergartners!