Artist Study : Monet
One of the most enjoyable parts of homeschooling, at least in my home, is that I am not limited to the constraints of a prepared curriculum. Sometimes, this is overwhelming, as I find myself desiging a custom curriculum for Reading AND Math AND Science AND Art… Most of the time, I enjoy it, immensely. I decided to start studying artists with the kids, and the first Artist that we studied was Monet.
Among the fun things we learned, Monet found himself under the waves on at least one occassion, as the tide came in while he was painting. We learned that his mood could change like the weather and that often his paintings had sand or straw or other particulates in them. The kids enjoyed learning that his style of painting wasn’t popular, but he did it because he enjoyed it.
Art Projects, Inspired by Monet
I was so excited to run across Mrs. Carter’s It’s Art Day Blog! Her “Monet’s Pond“ activity looked like so much fun, we had to give it a try! You should definitely go to her site to get the instructions. I’ll share some photos from our process. It was so much fun. It was also exciting to see my husband so happy about our studies.
For the first step we used paper plates and paint brushes with what paints we had on hand… some acrylics (the gold was fabulous), fingerpaints and tempera.
For the next step, we used green construction paper with sponges and the same types of paint. I used chalk to trace the lilly pads and had to help the kids cut them out.
We used chalk pastels on pink constuction paper for the first part of the lillies and the kids had never used them before, so they enjoyed it very much. The dust was, apparently, fascinating. Lastly, they used tissue paper to make the tops of the flowers.
The kids are VERY proud of their “Monets.” So am I! It was a 3 day project, and we all had a lot of fun.
The next project that we did was inspired by The Crafty Classroom! Again, definitely look at the site to see the instructions and find other amazing ideas.
After I removed the tape, this is what we had:
Books about Monet
Monet Paints a Day was definitely the kids’ favorite to look at and be read. These were all available through my local library, but the links I’m giving here go to Amazon. They are affiliate links, which means that if you were to make a purchase, it would help support my family.
