Master Kitz The Starry Night -- my REVIEW

I'm sure most of us are familiar with VanGogh's Starry Night,a brightly-colored night sky with a magical feel.  The product that our family received for this most recent review was a kit to help a student replicate this famous painting.  The art kit is called Master Kitz The Starry Night and is produced by Kidzaw.com.  The Master Kitz The Starry Night comes all together, so the student (and parent) does not have to scramble around looking for supplies, other than something to squeeze the paint out onto and roll with the rollers.

This craft kit contains the materials a student can use to replicate VanGogh's famous painting.

 It all comes in a nice sturdy box, and contains three paints, a patterned paint roller, 5** oil pastels, two pieces of Deluxe Art Paper, a stencil, sticker star masks, a sponge roller, instructions, and an eduational pamphlet about VanGogh.  (**Incidentally, we only received four pastels, probably just a packaging error, this did not affect our review)

The student may read the pamphlet to learn about VanGogh as well as follow the included timeline to learn about the evolution/development of VanGogh's painting style.

The student then begins with his/her replication of VanGogh's Starry Night.

I won't walk you through all of the instructions, but basically the student begins by flattening out the paper and taping it to the table. They place star masks (stickers which hold a blank space on the page), mix paint colors, and use a patterned roller to apply different colors of paint in different locations.  The star masks (stickers) were removed, and stencils were used to create the skyline (using the flat paint roller).  Final steps included coloring the stars with pastels in circular colors as well as coloring the other parts of the scene (trees and buildings).

Applying the stars

Using the patterned roller

Removing the star masks

Ready for the stencil

applying paint through the stencil

post-stencil

Coloring the stars and foreground

Her finished product

comparing with the original!

SO, what did we think of it?  Hmmm...I think I will say that it was a craft, not really what I'd consider "art" work for my child--she wasn't really learning any art techniques or anything, just using tools which were pretty foolproof.  By foolproof I don't mean that her picture looks exactly like the original, but that I believe it is the intended result (or nearly).

We did have some difficulty with the star masks (stickers) pulling up a bit of the paper when she took them up--

As my daughter was using the product, I was thinking about this review and trying to think about how it could be used in a homeschool setting.  I think the most valuable usage of this Master Kitz The Starry Night would be to cement in a young person's mind the look of this renowned painting and/or to accompany an educational unit about VanGogh, as a fun craft project to go along with the study, to give a hands-on aspect to learning about his life and painting style.

My daughter was a little disappointed, as she thought that the project was "too easy" and plus she said it didn't include the famous white swirl (which I suppose you could add in yourself!).  She agreed with me that it would make a good accompaniment to a study about VanGogh, especially for younger students (she is 14).

To read what other reviewers thought about this product, please click on the link below!