What color is the sky?

I started this lesson by asking third grade artists a seemingly simple question: what color is the sky? The first answer I got was a giggly, sing-songy "BLUE!!!!!" and lots of giggles. But, after a few seconds of pondering, many began to rethink that answer. As a group, we talked about the many different colors of the sky, and when and why we see these colors (i.e., time of day, atmospheric conditions). We even looked at some pictures of sunset, sunrise, stormy weather, and the northern lights! Next, my students used chalk pastels to create beautiful skies of their own. They carefully selected their colors and used their fingers and paper towels to blend.

The second part of this lesson explored the idea of silhouettes. We talked about how silhouettes are created in nature and looked at some pictures that demonstrated this idea. If we had the time, I totally would have shown them how to make a silhouette with a flashlight! Later, they used black construction paper to create silhouette collages on their sky drawings.

I've also done this lesson using the book "Sky Color" by Peter H. Reynolds - a fabulous book for any art teacher to share with young artists!!