Rousseau's Jungle in First Grade and two fun videos!

One of my favorite units in first grade art is learning about Henri Rousseau and his tropical jungle pictures.  I always begin by showing a few Rousseau paintings, then watching "Dropping in on Rousseau."

Several kids were very interested in Henri Rousseau's Surprised.  They kept telling me they had seen it on Nick Jr.  I looked up the link, and sure enough, just as they said, two kids go in to the painting and kind of explore.  It's fun!  During my search, I also came across this video, which I decided to share with my classes:

This one was a little more informative.   Plus, it lead me to the entire series of "Your Paintings" which I could probably use in the future!

Our first lesson in our Rousseau Unit is a torn paper jungle collage.  I just love how tearing and gluing paper can turn into something so cool, and how successful each child can be!