Northern Lights

Description: In this project, we learned about the northern lights and how they appear in the sky. After the lesson, we were introduced to six different techniques for using and drawing with oil pastels. Using a sheet of black paper, we sketched and cut out mountain shapes to create stencils. We first used the stencil to outline the mountains on a second sheet of black paper, helping us visualize where the mountains would go and how much of the sky would be visible. Then, using bright colors and the techniques we had practiced, we used oil pastels to create the northern lights in the sky area. Afterward, we added white highlights to the mountain peaks and glued the cut-out mountains onto our colorful sky backgrounds. To finish, we had the option to add stars or a moon. The final artwork was required to include at least three different colors in the sky.
 

Activity Extension: Students will write a short creative story inspired by their artwork. The story could be from the perspective of someone seeing the northern lights for the first time, an explorer in the Arctic, or a character from a legend they discovered.