My 5yo told me she wanted to paint fall pictures.  She wanted to paint colorful leaves and trees and scenes from nature.  After a bit it seemed best that I draw a few simple pencil sketches for her to paint because she was having a hard time getting the paint to do what she wanted and was getting quickly frustrated.  So we started with some leaves.

Next I drew a tree for her and showed her how she could make the tree have many leaves by just using dots and dabs of paint.  First I did up an example and while she painted I pulled out print cards I have of van Gogh's self portrait and a variety of impressionist paintings that use many small strokes like those of Monet and Sisley.  We were able to talk a bit about the different types of painting and what started as an innocent child asking to paint turned into a brief introduction to impressionism and pointillism.  I love it when lessons come out of nowhere!  Here is her finished tree.

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