the northern lights

I asked the kids to choose a state to learn more about this summer.

Isabela's first response, "Canada." (I'm glad we're working on this.)

I suggested Alaska since it's actually a state, and she agreed.

Joaquin's choice? Hawaii.

And that about sums up their differences.

So I came across this fun art activity (I'm pretty sure it was on this Iditarod webpage)when looking up things about Alaska. It's a water coloring of the northern lights.


To do this, you need:
a black sharpie
watercolor paper
watercolors
tape
water

Just tape down your paper with a nice border, and draw your landscape with the Sharpie. This is great since it's all black, the details are all colored in. Hardly any mess ups!

Then paint a layer of water on to your paper to wet it. This helps blend the colors. Then paint some bright color in the sky, and fill in any remaining white with a dark color...we used black water color.


As it dries, it spreads and some amazing colors come out. Very fun and addictive! We even thought of using these as post cards.