2nd Grade - Water Lily Ponds - Claude Monet

My second graders have started to finish up their water lily ponds.  Here are a few of the paintings from the front hallway display.  The students had so much fun making these and really put a lot of effort into how they mixed their colors!  We spent time looking at Monet's water lily paintings and studied many photos online of what Monet's house and gardens look like today.  My students were entranced by the photos from the web site and all kept asking if we could go on a field trip there!  I found the link on Pinterest and pinned it to my board on Monet.

In week one they got to paint their backgrounds with blues and purples.  They used large flat brushes, sponge brushes and sponge rollers.  The second week they got two greens, yellow and white. I showed them how they could mix and blend their colors for different effects.  They used ovals and squiggly lines for their lily pads and grasses. Week three they got magenta, yellow and white. I showed them several different ways they could make their lilies and how to mix the paints to get several different colors.  The students  absolutely love how they came out and are getting rave reviews from everyone that passes them in the hall!  Thanks to Laura from Painted Paper for inspiring me with her students renditions of Monet's waterlilies!  Seeing those made me decide to change up how we normally created our ponds.  Enjoy!