African Sunsets - Science meets Art and ELA!

In 2010, I spent the summer on an island off the coast Kenya volunteering along side marine biologist. After that, I explored Kenya by land on safari. This lesson is one of many I created after that summer.

This lesson combines Science, Language Arts and Art. Students will:
Learn basic Swahili.
Learn the science behind what makes sunsets orange.
Read, "The Elephant's Child" by Rudyard Kipling and answer Common Core aligned comprehension questions.
Create an African sunset scene using water colors.

I usually do this project after reading, The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling. You will need: water colors, white construction paper and black construction paper.

Have the kids start by doing a wash. To do this, saturate a thick paintbrush with water. Start with red, move up to orange, and finish out with yellow water colors. Have the kids put this aside and do sketch of an African scene. The simpler the better. Have them cut their scene out, and glue it onto their sunset wash after it dries!