Display a famous Monet painting like "The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil" and have the children study it for five to 10 minutes. While they look at the painting, set out plain white card stock for each second-grader, water colors or tempera paint, and painting tools like cotton swabs, sponges and different-sized paintbrushes.
When they are done analyzing the Monet painting, ask them to re-create it. Keep it displayed for reference and encourage the children to experiment with their colors and tools. While they are painting, you can explain Impressionism, like how it began in Paris as a critic's statement to one of Monet's paintings in 1872 but then became one of the most important influences in modern art.
After teaching your students what Impressionism is and showing them several examples, allow them to try their hand at it--or their fingers. Give them each a piece of paper and at least four different colors of finger paint. Ask them to re-create a famous Impressionism art piece, using just their finger tips and paint.
Let your second-graders create their own scene. Come up with the theme as a class, and then encourage each student to get creative with their scenes. Some theme ideas include: sailboats in a bay, outdoor picnic, country fair or a barn yard. Offer suggestions if the children become stuck, but let them explore several ideas before settling on the theme. Be sure each student has paper, watercolors or tempera paint, different-sized paintbrushes and cotton swabs or sponges.
When your students understand the concept and style of Impressionism, give them heavy stock poster board at least 10 inches by 10 inches in size, masking tape, tempera paint and tools to paint with. Have them create a garden scene, using the tape to show benches, bridges, walking paths, fences or steps. Ask them to use the paint to fill in the entire paper, creating a garden scene. They must paint over the tape, too. After the paint is dry, pull up the tape and discover a unique garden where all non-living items look as if they were painted in white while the rest of the landscape is lively and colorful.
Pass out a single piece of medium-grit sandpaper to each student. Have them use crayons to draw a picture on their sandpaper. Encourage them to press hard so their crayon gets deep in the sandpaper. When they complete their picture have them bring it to you. With several pieces of newspaper spread on the table, place the sandpaper drawing face up and cover it with a piece of plain white paper. Use an iron set on low, and carefully iron over the white paper until the crayon has melted off the sandpaper onto the plain paper. When you flip the white paper over, it will look like a unique piece of Impressionist art.