SchoolArts - May/June 2010

Boy, do I love sunflowers! I wanted my young art stu- dents to love them as much as I do . . . but not with the old sunflower in a brown pot art lesson; To me it needed a new kick, so I decided to go big and grow big.

Growing Sunflowers

Sunflowers are easy to grow, so I started the lesson four months earlier with inexpensive seed packets. Plant them around Mother’s Day in a sunny spot next to your house or a fence. They are a hearty plant and easy to care for, even if you don’t have a green thumb. There are many different types to grow; just follow the directions on the back of the seed packet.

I plant many varieties, but I most like the colors of the Mexican sunflower and the dramatic height of the Mammoth sunflower. All summer I enjoy them in my garden, and when school begins in the fall, they are at their most beautiful.

Using sunflowers as a life study, I
had my kindergarten and first-grade
students touch and sketch the plants
cut from my garden. They felt the
seeds and we had a great discussion
about shapes, line, pattern, and tex-
ture. We also read the book, Camille
and the Sunflowers, a story about Vin-
cent van Gogh by Lawrence Anholt.
We talked about van Gogh and his
paintings of sunflowers in the brown
pot, but our paintings were going to be
different—they were going to be spec-
tacular!

Drawing and Painting

For the paintings, we used 18 x 24" ( 46 x 61 cm) 80 lb. white drawing paper.

Students drew a large circle on the
paper with crayon and then, looking
at the flower, drew the triangles for
petals. I gave them one paint tray and
a large brush. We used yellow, red, and
orange tempera
paint with no
water available to
clean the brush. I
wanted students
to mix the colors
directly on the
paper. In the last
few minutes of painting, I gave them
green for the petals. That way, the
green stayed in limited areas of their
design.
Using sunflowers as a life
study, I had my kindergarten
and first-grade students
touch and sketch the plants
cut from my garden.

and textures that we saw with the original garden sunflowers. Using oil pastels, I let students go wild! The bold and intense colors on each student’s artwork made each one unique and successful. The large paper created a wonderful effect in the hallway when they were on display.

At the end of the lesson, the seeds from my garden sunflowers were placed in individual snack baggies (ten seeds per pack) and distributed to my artists in the spring to be planted in their yards. I can’t wait until summer when our community’s front yards will be full of color.

Now the only problem I have with this lesson is my older students asking when they can make their own spectacular sunflowers. Oh well, I do have a big garden to harvest.