Northern Lights Chalk Art

As part of our Arctic study we learned about the Northern Lights, or the Aurora Boralis. We learned that the lights are caused by charged particles colliding in the earth's atmosphere. Living in Oklahoma we are not likely to see them for ourselves, so we used the wonders of google to search out images of the lights. Then, the kids made their own Northern Lights pictures using dark construction paper, sidewalk chalk (though I think pastels would work better for this project if we had them on hand), some polar foam stickers and cotton balls for the snow. I love making mixed media art with the kids, I think it makes for much more interesting finished projects. I had the kids research what colors were actually in the Northern Lights and find out what caused the different colors. Then they used their chalk to add some color streaks to the sky and a tissue to blend the colors together to give it a more natural look. After they were all done, we sprayed on some hairspray to help set the colors and keep them from smudging further.