Learn about the amazing Aurora borealis with our stunning Northern Lights art projects for kids! Try chalk pastels, watercolors, acrylic paints & more!

Imagine a wild splash of colors – red, green, blue……It moves and changes shape, and looks gorgeous on a dark background. Sounds magical, right?

Well, this isn’t any interactive art exhibit we’re talking about – it’s the Northern Lights!

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What are the Northern Lights?

The Northern Lights are a natural light display in the sky, seen around the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The lights seen near the north pole are called Aurora borealis and the ones around the south pole are called Aurora australis.

Aurora refers to the Roman goddess of dawn, while borealis and australis are derived from Boreas and Auster – the ancient gods of the north and south wind respectively.

What causes the Northern Lights?

Earlier, there were many myths and legends associated with the appearance of the Northern Lights, but it was Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland who gave the first scientific explanation for it.

The Northern Lights are caused when the Earth’s magnetosphere is disturbed by solar winds. The magnetosphere is a part of space surrounding the Earth where charged particles like electrons and protons are affected by the Earth’s magnetic field. The disturbance by the solar winds throws the particles off their paths, resulting in lights of different colors.

While there is much more to explain about the occurrence of the Northern Lights, we’ll leave that for later. Now, let’s get busy by admiring the beauty of this phenomenon, with some gorgeous Northern Lights art projects for kids!

15 Northern Lights Art Projects for Kids

1. Northern Lights Watercolor Painting

We kickstart our list of Northern Lights art projects for kids with an easy watercolor project from Projects with Kids. We love how the colors merge together with each other!

2. Northern Lights Chalk Art

We know that the disturbance of the charged particles causes the explosion of light, but did you know that the color of the light depends upon what the electrons collide with? Oxygen gives out a red or yellowish-green color, while nitrogen gives out blue, purple or pink. This chalk pastel art from One Little Project celebrates all these colors and more!

3. Northern Lights with Watercolors

We may be hearing of many people visiting the Northern Lights these days, but this phenomenon has been of interest for centuries. It was depicted in the Cro-Magnon cave paintings in Spain in 30,000 BC, written down in China in 2600 BC and studied by the Greeks in the 4th century BC. Now, we can study the Northern Lights in great detail, or paint them, like this tutorial from The Pinterested Parent!

4. Reindeer Silhouette Painting

Arty Crafty Kids has a very interesting addition to this list of Northern Lights art projects for kids – a reindeer silhouette art project! There are two ways to go about this, and we think they’re both awesome!

5. Easy Northern Lights Painting

The Northern Lights appear in different shapes – patches, arcs, rays, coronas or just a mild glow near the horizon. The shape also changes as the night passes, making it truly amazing to watch. Step by Step Painting has a tutorial that explores some of these shapes, and we love it!

6. Aurora Borealis Finger Painting Project

Since the Northern Lights are an effect of solar events, it is obvious that solar storms can result in this phenomenon. One of the most intense geomagnetic storms in history is the Carrington Event, which caused such strong displays of auroras that even sparked fires in telegraph stations! You can create a much safer version with Northern Lights art projects for kids like this one from You’re so Creative!

7. Northern Lights STEM Art Project

While the Northern Lights are worth making art out of, they are a scientific phenomenon at the core, so it’s only right that we have a STEM project featuring them! Raising Up Wild Things brings us a project that’s both a sensory activity and a science experiment.

8. How to Paint the Northern Lights

If you look at social media, it looks like more and more people are visiting the Northern Lights these days, and you’re right! The global Northern Lights tourism market is only expected to grow, and with more people traveling from across the world, it is estimated to go beyond 2100 million USD in 10 years! While you plan your trip to the North Pole, here is a project from Arty Crafty Kids that you can try out.

9. Northern Lights Chalk Pastel Art

Before we had a scientific explanation for them, the Northern Lights were seen with awe and fear by earlier generations. The Japanese considered them messages from heaven, while the Native Americans thought they were the spirits of their friends dancing in the sky. Some Aboriginal tribes believed the lights were fires of ghostly spirits, while others thought they were messages from their ancestors. Learn more about the myths surrounding the Auroras as you make this art project from Projects with Kids!

10. Northern Lights Mason Jar Nightlight

The Chinese have a legend regarding the Northern Lights that goes like this: A young woman, Fubao, was sitting alone outdoors when a magnificent explosion of light appeared in the sky, in different shapes and colors. Fubao instantly became pregnant, and her baby turned out to be Emperor Xuanyuan, considered the ancestor of Chinese people. Keep a little sample of this magic close to you, with a DIY nightlight from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

11. Crumpled Paper Northern Lights Art

Aurora isn’t just about lights – it’s also about sounds! In fact, the Sami people called it the ‘light which can be heard‘. People have reported hissing noises along with crackling or clapping sounds. This is caused when the charged particles disturbed by the Sun hit the inversion layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. You can almost hear them when you look at this art project from Taming Little Monsters!

12. Water Spray Northern Lights Art Project

If making these Northern Lights art projects for kids has made you interested in seeing the real thing, you’d have to travel to any of these places: the northern parts of Canada, Alaska, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. The lights are most visible from late autumn to early spring (September to March) from 6 PM to 1 AM. While you plan your trip, enjoy making this water spray art project from Crafts on Sea.

13. Northern Lights Igloo Art Project

If you’re looking for Northern Lights art projects for kids based on books, The Crafty Classroom has one for you! This igloo art is based on Mindy Dwyer’s ‘Aurora: A Tale of the Northern Lights‘, featuring a young girl who collects the colors of the Aurora as she travels. A fun tale kids will love!

14. Paint Splat Northern Lights Art

We’ve been talking about the Northern Lights with respect to the Earth’s atmosphere, but the Sun’s activity isn’t restricted to the Earth – it affects other planets too! All planets have auroras, including Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. Perhaps you can catch a glimpse from the peak of these mountains from Glued to My Crafts!

15. Polar Borealis

Kinder Art brings us a fun take on Aurora Borealis – Polar Bearealis! We love the clever wordplay as well as the quirky art project they’ve come up with!

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the Northern Lights through these Northern Lights art projects for kids. Most of these art projects are on a dark background, but if you don’t have black paper, you can still make them on light paper. Experiment with different art techniques and create your own version of this magical phenomenon.

If you’d like more winter-themed art and craft projects, you may enjoy these: