Pathway: Brave Colour

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Installation Art, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That as humans we react emotionally to colour.

  • That artists can create immersive environments using colour, light, form and sometimes sound to create a transformative experience for others.

  • That we can use colour in a brave and inventive way, trying new colour combinations and exploring the relationship between colour and form. 

  • That we can test ideas, use our imagination, and share our vision with others by creating 2 and 3 dimensional models. 

In this pathway pupils are enabled to explore colour in a very personal and intuitive way. 

Taking inspiration from artists who use colour, light and form to create immersive installations, pupils are encouraged to create (propose) their own art work. They are enabled to imagine “what if…?” and encouraged to share their vision or imagining with others through mock-up artworks and models. 

Recognising pupils growing ability to articulate their thoughts, and understand that we can use art to bring people together through sharing common experiences, such as how our bodies and minds react in certain colourful environments, pupils are empowered to create their own response to simple sculptural challenges. 

Pupils use sketchbooks throughout to record, test and reflect. 

Medium:
Paper, Card, Paint, Light (coloured filters)

Artists: Olafur Eliasson, Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough, Liz West

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Mini World Lightboxes by Anna Campbell
Olafur Eliasson Exhibition at The Tate by Paula Briggs
Liz West, Our Colour Reflection, 2020 © Jussi Tiainen : Hyvinkää Art Museum
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Science: Light, shadows.

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have explored the work of installation artists who use colour, light and form to create immersive environments. I have been able to imagine what it might be like to be in those environments, and to share my thoughts with others.

  • I can respond to a creative challenge or stimulus, research the area, and make a creative response.

  • I can create a 3d model or 2d artwork which shares my vision with others. 

  • I can use a sketchbook to focus my exploration of colour, taking time to record thoughts, test ideas and reflect.

  • I can take photos of my artwork, thinking about focus, lighting and composition.

  • I can present my ideas and vision to others, articulate my thoughts and listen to the response of my classmates, taking on board their feedback.

  • I can listen to the creative ideas of others, and share my feedback about their work. 


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Selection of papers, elastic bands, cardboard, soft pencils, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, water colour paint, inks, acrylic or ready mixed paint, brushes, collage papers, PVA glue, scissors.

Option 1: Mini World Light Boxes- Cardboard boxes, pencils, felt tip pens, sharpies paper/card, junk modelling materials, torches, marbling materials, paper, marbling inks, sticks for mixing, trays, PVA glue, scissors.

Option 2: Sculptural Challenge: Colourful Walls and Option 3: Sculptural Challenge: Light and Form – Construction Materials (see list here).

Pathway: Brave Colour

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway gives pupils the opportunity to engage with colour in an intuitive and physical way.

    Pupils are given a greater degree of creative independence and the pathway invites pupils to  respond to the following questions:

    “How can we create colourful experiences? How do they make us feel? How might we connect to others through colour?”

    Pupils are encouraged to guide their own exploration, making choices about how they want to use colour in their artwork. 

  • Week 1: Prepare

    Make a “Brave Colour” Project Sketchbook

    colourful sketchbook

    Fill the classroom full of colour and start as you mean to go on by inviting children to make a dedicated Brave Colour Project Sketchbook. 

    Use the “Elastic Band Sketchbook” resource to make the sketchbooks. Use white paper inside (use cartridge paper torn into double sized sheets – don’t use printer paper) so that pupils can fill it with the colours that appeal to them. 

    For the covers, use something durable like cardboard as a base, but invite pupils to personalise the covers with colours they are attracted to. This might involve paint, card, paper or fabric.

    Encourage pupils to use these sketchbooks throughout the project. Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to capture colours, generate ideas and reflect. 

  • Week 2: Be Inspired

    Explore the Work of Artists Using Colour

    Olafur Eliasson Exhibition
    Olafur Eliasson

    As a class, explore the work of artists who use colour in their work – sometimes in the form of paint, sometimes light. 

    Explore the following Talking Point resources, using them as the basis for class discussion. Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to give pupils time to jot down thoughts and ideas in their sketchbooks. 

    As this is a colour project, make sure pupils have ready access to colour – paper, paint, ink, pastel – so even though this session is about watching and talking, they can also easily reach for colours to apply to their sketchbook notes. 

    Explore one or more of the free to access resources below:

    The Laundrette of Dreams Project by Yinka Ilori https://vimeo.com/649907702

    Talking Points: Yinka Iloria and Colourful Spaces


    Flock of Seagulls Bag of Stolen Chips by Morag Myerscough https://vimeo.com/666728598

    Talking Points: Morag Myerscough


    Nuvango Gallery: Carnovsky Opening https://vimeo.com/152368545

    Talking Point: Carnovsky


    Olafur Eliasson Exhibition at The Tate by Paula Briggs

    Talking Point: Olafur Eliasson


    Liz West, Our Colour Reflection

    Installation Artist – Liz West


    You may also like to explore the “Talking Points: What is Installation Art?” resource. 

  • Week 3: Collect Colour

    Exciting Colour

    DashwoodStudio Fabric Design by Rachel Parker

    Explore pattern designer Rachel Parker’s moodboard books. Invite children to “Collect Colour” from magazines to create their own colour moodboards. These moodbards can be used in the future as inspiration for other projects.

  • Weeks 3, 4, & 5: Explore & Create

    Dream Big by Working Small

    Choose one of the following options to focus pupils exploration of “brave colour”. 

    Use sketchbooks to record, test and reflect. 

  • Option 1

    Mini World Light Boxes

    Lighting up the miniworld

    Use the “Mini World Light Boxes” resource to create models of sculptural installations exploring light, colour and form.


  • Or…

  • Option 2

    Sculptural Challenge: Colourful Walls

    Use the “Sculptural Challenge Number 1: Colourful Walls” resource and challenge pupils to create a design proposal for a colourful architectural installation exploring colour and form.

  • Option 3

    Sculptural Challenge: Colour, Light, Form

    Use the “Sculptural Challenge Number 2: Colour, Light, Form” resource and ask children to create an idea for an installation which uses light, colour and form (and even maybe sound) to create an immersive experience for others.

  • Week 6: Present and Share

    Share, Reflect, Discuss

    Lighting up the miniworld

    Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

    Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if you were in a gallery.

    Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the pupils of their hard work. Look back on all stages of the colourful journey and connect work made by pupils to that of the initial artists. 

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, Whitchurch Primary School
Year 6, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 6, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 6, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 6, St Michaels Community Academy
Process Art at HP, Home Education group
Process Art at HP, Home Education group.
Process Art at HP, Home Education group.
Process Art at HP, Home Education group.
Process Art at HP, Home Education group.
Process Art at HP, Home Education group.
Year 6, Histon and Impington Primary School
Year 6, Histon and Impington Primary School
Year 6, Histon and Impington Primary School
Year 6, Histon and Impington Primary School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

To Colour

A sensory exploration exploring questions 'What does colour smell like? What does colour feel like?'

A sensory exploration exploring questions ‘What does colour smell like? What does colour feel like?’


Pathway: Architecture: Dream Big or Small?

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Architecture, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That architects have a responsibility to design buildings which help make our world a better place, including thinking about the environmental impact of the buildings they design.

  • That we can make creative choices which both serves ourselves as individuals and the communities we belong to. 

  • That we can use form, structure, materials, and scale to design innovative buildings.

  • That we can build architectural models to test out our ideas and share our vision. 

In this pathway children are opened to the idea that artists and designers have responsibilities, in the case of architects to design homes that help us have a brighter future. Children discuss as a class if it is best to design aspirational homes which make us feel good to live in, or tiny homes which benefit the environment. Or perhaps we can do both?

Children explore the work of architects and individual builder/designers, and use sketchbooks and drawing to collect, process and reflect upon ideas.

Children then go on to build an architectural model of their aspirational home or tiny house, before sharing as a class to see the village that has been made. 

Medium:
Foamboard, Ink, Card

Artists: Shoreditch Sketcher, Various Architects

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Finished piece
Finished piece
Ink & Foamboard Architecture at Wysing Arts Centre
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Opportunity to talk about issues surrounding climate change to inform the type of houses you make, and the materials you use.

History: Changes in Britain – How architecture has changed from your chosen civilisation topic. Design a bomb shelter inspired by WW2?

Maths: Measuring, 2D and 3D shapes, symmetry, angles.

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have explored domestic architecture which is aspirational and large, and I have explored the Tiny House movement. I can discuss with the class how both these ways of designing might affect our lives.

  • I can use my sketchbook to collect, record and reflect my ideas and thoughts. 

  • I can make larger drawings working from still imagery, using various drawing techniques for fifteen or so minutes. 

  • I can explore how line, form, structure, material, and scale are all used to make architecture interesting, and help the designer meet the design brief. 

  • I can make an architectural model using the ‘design through making’ technique, using my sketchbook to help free my imagination.

  • I can present my work, reflect and share it with my classmates.

  • I can respond to the work of my classmates, sharing my thoughts about their work in relation to the architecture we looked at during the project. 

  • I can photograph my work considering lighting, focus and composition.

  • I can make short films of my work giving a close-up tour of my architectural model.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies, A2 cartridge or sugar paper. Construction Materials (see list here)


 

Pathway: Architecture – Dream Big & Small

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • The Aim of the Pathway

    The aim of this pathway is to give pupils the opportunity to use their growing creative independence to discuss, decide, and design. Pupils will explore the responsibilities architects have to create a better world for us all by exploring whether we should “dream big or dream small” when it comes to planning for homes for the future. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    Dream Big or Small?

    Dream homes

    Introduce pupils to the point for discussion and design:

    “As architects, should we aspire to fill the world full of amazing beautiful buildings, or do we serve ourselves and the planet better by designing small, modest, cleverly designed eco homes. Or can we do both?”

    Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Amazing Architectural Homes” resource to see aspirational architectural design.

    Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to get children to note down forms, structures and materials that they like.

    Tiny houses

    Then use the free to access “Talking Points: Tiny Houses” resource. Again, use sketchbooks to make visual notes of the details, structures, materials, and ideas which appeal to the children.

    Have a class discussion, and perhaps even a vote, about what they feel is important in terms of house design to make the world a better place.

  • Week 2: Draw

    Drawing Houses

    This week, children will work on larger sheets of cartridge or sugar paper (A3 or larger) and revisit the two resources used last week (“Drawing Source Material: Amazing Architectural Homes” and “Talking Points: Tiny Houses“). This time pupils will make drawings of paused moments in the video (so they are working from a still image).

    The aim here is not to design a building (they are not designing on paper) but instead to deepen understanding of the form and structures architects might use. Children will use drawing to help look more closely: to collect ideas for when they ‘design through making’. 

    Try to create between 3 and 5 drawings, each on a fresh sheet, during the session. Pupils will work in handwriting pen and, if they wish, coloured pen to highlight/accent certain features.

    They might like to be inspired by the drawings by the Shoreditch Sketcher. You can see his work at “Talking Points: Shoreditch Sketcher“.

    You might also like to use the following drawing exercises to inspire their drawings (using handwriting pen):

    Continuous Line Drawing

    Drawing with a Ruler

    If there is a sense of perspective in the image pupils are drawing, invite them to try to capture it on the page. Sometimes, if they are drawing from a still image on a whiteboard, they can use a metre rule or a cane to help see where the lines of perspective are. 

    Rather than try to draw the whole image, invite them to record what they consider to be the most important elements of the architectural design. 

  • Week 3, 4, 5

    Make your Architectural Model

    Foamboard construction

    Start Week 3 with a recap about the architectural dilemma: dream big or small?

    Decide as a class if the children are all going to make models of aspirational homes, or tiny houses, or a mixture of both. 

    Have sketchbooks open so that pupils can use them as reference material, and have access to the drawings made the week before. Use the “Ink and Foamboard Architecture” resource to help pupils build their architectural models.

    Tips:

    Remember they are not designing on paper first. Instead pupils are using sketchbooks as reference and using the “Design Through Making” technique.

    Remind pupils (if they get frustrated!) that Making is Hard!– but that’s ok! 

    Allow pupils plenty of time to cut and stick their shapes. You may want to get a head start by having a member of staff cut a selection of shapes beforehand so that pupils can use them as “building blocks” and then cut their own as they need them. See how to cut foamboard here Coming Soon.

    Buying foamboard (coming soon)

  • Week 6

    Share, Reflect, Discuss

    crit https://vimeo.com/171300551

    Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

    Pupils will display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they were in a gallery.

    Remember to display sketchbook work too, so that they remember the whole journey and give context to the outcomes.

    Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hard work.

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. You could also make films by bringing the cameras really close to the models, to see different perspectives and interiors. Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

     

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Histon and Impington Primary School
Histon and Impington Primary School
Histon and Impington Primary School
Histon and Impington Primary School
Histon and Impington Primary School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

My House

A Cardboard Construction Project

A Cardboard Construction Project

Houses from Around the World

Drawing and Collaging

Drawing and Collaging


Pathway: Set Design

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Set Design, Making, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That designers and makers design “sets” which form the backdrop/props to give context to drama (theatre, film or animation). 

  • That we can use many disciplines including painting, making, drawing to create sets, as well as thinking about lighting, scale, perspective, composition, and sound. 

  • That we can create our own “sets” to create models for theatre design, or backgrounds for an animation.

  • That we can take our inspiration from the sources of literature or music to inform our creative response and to capture the essence of the drama. 

In this pathway pupils explore the work of set designers – in the first instance a set designer that works in theatre, and in the second instance a maker that creates sets for animation. 

Pupils go on to explore how they can create their own model set, inspired by a creative stimulus (poetry, prose, film or music). 

Sketchbooks are used throughout to brainstorm, record, test and reflect. 

Medium:
Paper, Card, Construction Media, Mixed Media, Paint, Drawing Materials

Artists: Rae Smith, Fausto Melotti, Tiny Inventions, Rose Hurley, Gabby Savage-Dickson

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Building a set
Adding colour, more structure, and more drama
"The street was dark, wet, and deserted."
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

English: Create set designs inspired by your chosen play or book (for example Esio Trot).

History: Create a ‘scene’ inspired by your chosen civilisation topic e.g. a Roman amphitheatre.

Science: Light, shadow.

Music & Drama: Link to projects in Music and Drama.

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have explored how other artists use their skills to build sets for theatre or animation, inspired by literature, film, poetry or music. I can articulate and share my response to their work.

  • I can respond to a suggested stimulus (poetry, prose, music or short film) and design and build a model set which conveys my interpretation of the mood/narrative of the original stimulus. 

  • I can use my sketchbook to brainstorm ideas, jot down thoughts, test materials, record and reflect.

  • I can share my process and outcome with my classmates, articulating my ideas and methods. I can listen to their feedback and take it on board.

  • I can appreciate the artwork made by my classmates and share my response to their work.

  • I can take photographs or film of my artwork thinking about presentation, lighting, focus and composition. 

  • I can use my animation set as backdrop to an animation.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, A2 cartridge paper, charcoal, cardboard boxes, selection of small toys, construction materials.


 

Pathway: Set Design

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to introduce pupils to set design, either for theatre or animation. Pupils explore the work of designers/makers and then create their own model “sets” around a theme. 

  • Find Your Focus

    Choose Theatre Design or Design for Animation

    Decide if you would like your pupils to explore Set Design for Theatre, or Set Design for Animation, and follow the stages below accordingly.

  • Set Design for Theatre

    In this option pupils explore how designers design sets for theatre.

  • Week 1: Introduce

    Set Design for Theatre

    Set of War Horse Use the “Talking Points: Set Designer Rae Smith” resource to introduce pupils to the work of a set designer working in theatre.

    Pause the video at suitable points to open up conversation. Invite children to make a page or two using “Making Visual Notes” in their sketchbooks. They might make quick drawings of the sculptures, note down how they feel and also include any other thoughts that the videos prompt.

  • Week 2, 3, 4 & 5: Create

    Set Design for Theatre

    Creating "dramatic" charcoal drawings

    Use the “Set Design With Primary Aged Children” resource to focus a project around how pupils can create their own model sets in response to a dramatic stimulus.

    Children will have the opportunity to draw, build and paint and by the end they will have an atmospheric and dramatic set in response to text. Use sketchbooks throughout to come up with ideas, jot down thoughts, test materials and reflect.

    You may also like to introduce the work of Melotti through the “Talking Points: Fausto Melotti” resource if children need further stimulation mid project.



  • Or…

  • Set Design for Animation

    In this option pupils explore how animators build sets for their animations. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    Set Design for Animation

    Negative space by Tiny Inventions https://vimeo.com/238590794

    Use the “Talking Points: Negative Space by Tiny Inventions” resource to see how animators created the set for their animation Negative Space. 

    Pause the video at suitable points to open up conversation. Invite children to make a page or two in their sketchbooks using “Making Visual Notes“. They might make quick drawings of the set, note down how they feel and also include any other thoughts that the videos prompt.

  • Weeks 2, 3, 4 & 5: Introduce

    A Textiles Set

    Felting Details by Gabby Dickson

    Take further inspiration from artist Gabby Savage-Dickson and explore the “Gabby Savage-Dickson: Felting & Embroidering Sets” resource. 

  • Create

    Rosie Hurley

    Mr Hoppy with Tortoises by Rosie Hurley

    Explore the “Rosie Hurley: Esio Trot” resource – an artist who created a set based on the film Esio Trot. Explore all of the developmental stages in her sketchbook and see how it connects to the work that has been done in class.

    Again, ask children to have sketchbooks open and jot down any “tips” about the ways Rosie works in her sketchbooks which might be useful. 

    3D Model of Rooms for Esio Trot by Rosie Hurley

    Use the “Animation Set Design Challenge” resource to inspire children to create their own set based upon a piece of music, prose, film or poetry. Follow a similar process as Rosie Hurley to create your set. 

  • Extension

    Animate!

    Coming Soon

  • Week 6: Reflect and Discuss

    Present, Talk, Celebrate

    "The waves crashed upon the cliffs, time and again."

    End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space.

    Depending upon the project option chosen, display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you. 

    Encourage children to reflect upon all stages of the journey, and reference the artists studied. 

    If available, children can use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work. Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

See This Resource Used In Schools…

Year 5 Shottermill Junior School
Year 5 Shottermill Junior School
Year 5 Shottermill Junior School
Year 5 Shottermill Junior School
Year 5, Shottermill Junior School
Year 5, Shottermill Junior School
Year 5, Shottermill Junior School
Year 5, Shottermill Junior School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Drawing Exercise Responding to text

Adapt the workshop for younger students and create drawings in response to text

Adapt the workshop for younger students and create drawings in response to text

model making responding to text

Use text extracts as a starting point to make ‘scratch models’

Use text extracts as a starting point to make ‘scratch models’


Pathway: Exploring Still Life

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Painting, Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks, Relief

Key Concepts:

  • That when artists make work in response to static objects around them it is called still life.

  • That still life has been a genre for many hundreds of years, and is it still relevant today.

  • That when artists work with still life, they bring their own comments and meaning to the objects they portray.

  • That we can make a still life creative response in many media: drawing, painting, collage, relief…

  • That we can use line, shape, colour, texture, and form to help us give meaning to our work, and explore composition, foreground, background, and negative space. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the genre of still life as an old art form and also one which is still enjoyed by many contemporary artists. Pupils revisit and develop their drawing (and looking) skills using observational drawing of physical objects, and then go on to explore a project, either working in collage, photography and paint, clay relief, or graphic still life. 

Along the way children consolidate and develop their understanding of how we can use line, shape, colour, texture, form and composition to make their work. 

Medium:
Acrylic or poster paint, pen, pencil, ink, clay (depending upon project chosen)

Artists: Paul Cezanne, Peter Claesz, Melchior d’ Hondecoeter, Jan Davidsz, Jacob Vosmaer, Hilary Pecis,  Nicole Dyer, Baas Meeuws, Hirasho Sato

 

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Arranging And Rearranges Still Life By Joanne Andrews
2
Drawing "shadows"
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Please find the CPD session recording of the Exploring Still Life pathway here.


Curriculum Links

History: Depict objects related to your chosen ancient civilisation topic or even arrange for a museum handling collection to visit your school.

Maths: 2D and 3D shapes, Pattern (on object).

Science: Plants, trees and flowers, rocks and fossils, light and shadow (explore all of these through your still life arrangement).


I Can…

  • I have explored the work of contemporary and more traditional artists who work within the still life genre.

  • I have felt able to express my thoughts about other artists’ work, and talk about the meanings of objects as artists present them.

  • I can use my sketchbook to make visual notes, record and reflect. 

  • I can draw from observation and think about how I can use line, colour, shape, texture, form and composition to make my artwork interesting.

  • I can present and share my artwork, and explain how my sketchbook work helped build my knowledge and skills towards my final piece.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, cartridge paper, sharpies or felt tip pens, handwriting ink or watercolour (undiluted or thick & diluted down to a wash), a fine brush and a thick brush, a small, solid object to draw.

Option 1: Cut Paper Collage Still Life – (to make the collage papers) A2 cartridge paper, A3 coloured sugar paper, sponges, brushes, bubble wrap scraps, acrylic or ready mixed paint (to make the collage), a still life arrangement, PVA glue, scissors.

Option 2: Cezanne Paintings to reference (digitally and printed), a still life arrangement (textured cloths/tea towels, colourful fruits, large bowls, glass vase or bottle, tea pot etc), large pieces of card in various colours for background, iPads/tablets/digital camera/iPhone for photographing.

Option 3: Clay Fruit Tiles – Selection of fruit and vegetables, drawing materials: charcoal, graphite, pencil, chalks, pastels, paper, card, tissue paper, scissors, cardboard, camera, photocopier or tracing paper, clay, clay tools, rolling pins, clay knives, boards, plastic bags, sponges, water pots, brushes, toothbrush and water (for joining clay onto your tile), acrylic paint.

Option 4: Graphic Inky Still Life – Inks, foamboard or cardboard, quills/brushes/pens, craft knife and cutting mat, PVA glue, variety of bottles to draw.


 

Pathway: Exploring Still Life

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aim of the Pathway

    The aim of this pathway is to introduce children to the genre of still life, explore traditional and contemporary still life artists, and make their own creative response.

    In doing so, they consolidate and develop many technical and visual literacy skills and concepts, including looking at line, colour, shape, texture, form, composition, foreground, background and negative space.

  • Week 1: Introduce an artist

    Introduce the artist Paul Cezanne

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Cezanne” resource to introduce pupils to the still lifes of Paul Cezanne. 

    Invite children to capture elements of his paintings in their sketchbooks as you discuss his work (focusing particularly on colours, lines and shapes). 

    You might like to use the “Show Me What Your See” or “Making Visual Notes” resources to help children embed exploration in their  sketchbooks.

    You might also like to visit the “What is Composition?” resource to help pupils think about about composition in still life artwork. 

  • Work in sketchbooks

    Choose One of the Drawing Exercises Below

    See Three Shapes

    Use the “See Three Shapes” exercise to help children appreciate how seeing simple shapes can help improve drawing skills, and how one material can be used in a variety of ways to create different qualities of line.

    Gestural Drawing with Colour

    Use the “Four Colour Gestural Drawing Exercise” resource to help children build their understanding of the subject matter, and think about how they can use marks to share their understanding. 

  • Week 2: Explore Further

    Explore the Work of Contemporary and Traditional Still Life Artists

    Hiroshi Sato https://vimeo.com/672907471

    Explore a variety of contemporary artists who study still life in different forms. Use our free to access “Talking Points: Contemporary Still Life” to prompt class discussion about the artists work.

    Compare and contrast with the work of Dutch and Flemish 16th century artists using the free to access “Talking Points: Flemish Painters” resource.

    Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to record and reflect.

  • Weeks 3, 4 & 5: Find Your Focus

    Choose a Project

    Choose between an exploration of:

    • Painting and collage

    • Photography,  composition and painting

    • Clay, texture and painting

    • Still life sculpture

  • Option 1: Paint and Collage

    Cut Paper Collage Still Life

    Use the “Cut Paper Collage Still Life” resource to facilitate a collaged still life activity. This technique is very accessible – pupils paint sheets of paper before collaging with them. 


  • Or…

  • Option 2: Photography, Composition and Painting

    Still Life Inspired by Cezanne

    Arranging And Rearranges Still Life By Joanne Andrews

    Use the “Still Life Inspired by Cezanne” resource to invite pupils to make their own still life compositions, before photographing and painting them. This option is a great way to bring cameras into the classroom. 


  • Or…

  • Option 3: Clay, Texture, Paint

    Clay Fruit Tiles

    Give children the opportunity to work with clay to make decorative “Clay Fruit Tiles“.

    Children will gain skills in working with clay as a resistant and responsive material, resulting in an exploration of texture, mark making, colour and composition.


  • Or…

  • Option 4: Still Life Sculpture

    Graphic Inky Still Life

    Drawing of bottles

    Explore still life through drawing and construction. “Graphic Inky Still Life” gives children the opportunity to develop their observation and mark making skills to create charming and powerful 3d graphic images.

    Scaffold with sketchbook exercises such as “Continuous Line Drawing” and “Thoughtful Mark Making” to extend the project.

    Tip: This project was originally shared with slightly older children. It’s perfectly suited to this age group – just replace the knife-cutting of the foamboard shapes of the bottles with scissor cutting working on cardboard instead. 

  • Intervention

    Learning to see

    If you feel pupils need help learning to see, use the exercises on the “Painting on Plaster” activity, which includes drawing exercises to explore composition, setting up an individual still life to encourage close looking, and using a viewfinder to help you see. Don’t progress to painting on plaster, unless you are interested in painting on plasterboard (link coming soon).

  • Week 6: Present and Celebrate

    Share, Reflect, Discuss

    Finished still life

    Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

    Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. 

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Layered Colour Gestural Drawings @smarty.arty18
Layered Colour Gestural Drawings @smarty.arty18
Year 5
Year 5
Year 4, Glenfrome Primary
Year 4, Glenfrome Primary
Sheffield High School
Sheffield High School
Year 4, Manland Primary
Year 4, Manland Primary
Year 4, Manland Primary
Year 4, Manland Primary
Year 6, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 6, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 6, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 6, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 4 at Hymers Junior School
Year 4 at Hymers Junior School
Year 4 at Hymers Junior School
Year 4 at Hymers Junior School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Thoughtful Mark making

Develop mark making vocab and decision making skills

Develop mark making vocab and decision making skills

Using pastel to capture texture

Explore using pastels, with graphite, to capture the texture of fabric

Explore using pastels, with graphite, to capture the texture of fabric

Blind Contour Drawing

Match the speed of drawing with the speed of looking

Match the speed of drawing with the speed of looking

Drawing Vegetables

Explore a variety of media through drawing vegetables

Explore a variety of media through drawing vegetables

Japanese sushi inspires our art

Create large-scale mixed media drawings inspired by food from Japan

Create large-scale mixed media drawings inspired by food from Japan

still life acrylic paintings

Make acrylic paintings on canvases

Make acrylic paintings on canvases


Pathway: Festival Feasts

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That we can respond to a creative stimulus through lots of different media (paper, pen, paint, modelling materials and fabric) to work towards drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture. 

  • That we can use our knowledge and curiosity of line, shape, colour and form to make playful and inventive art. 

  • That we can make an individual artwork which contributes to a larger shared piece, or we can work on a shared artwork.

  • That making art can be fun and joyful, and that we can find subject matter which inspires us all and brings us together.

In this pathway children are enabled to begin to recognise that their individual creative response will be different to that of their peers, but that it is valued and can contribute to a larger shared artwork. 

As children progress through the school, they are enabled to use and further develop the knowledge and skills learnt so far, and bring their personal likes, dislikes and experience to a project, working towards being confident creative decision makers. 

The pathway begins with an exploration of artists who make sculptures of food, working at unexpected scales, working in a sketchbook to make visual notes to consolidate their experience. 

Children then further develop drawing skills by drawing from still imagery and from life, and then teachers choose from two projects, one using dry materials (paper, card, pen, paint) to make a “corner shop”, or using modroc and other modelling and construction materials to make a shared sculptural feast.

Finally, if you have time, invite pupils to make a shared picnic drawing, before making time to present the work, reflect and share. 

Medium:
Paper/Card, Drawing Materials, Modelling Materials (incl. Modroc)

Artists: Claes Oldenberg, Lucia Hierro, Nicole Dyer

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Final 3D Tins And Jars By Tobi Meuwissen
Donuts
The picnic spread!
ages 5-8
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

See the recording of the Zoom CPD session Exploring Modroc.


Curriculum Links

History: Look at the food grown during the time of your chosen civilisation topic e.g. Iron Age farming.

Science: Soil, room to grow, nutrition, food groups, environmental changes.

PSHE: Supports Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion. Look at foods from different religious ceremonies.


I Can…

  • I have explored the work of artists who are inspired by food and I can share my responses with the class.

  • I can use my sketchbook to record and reflect how the artist’s work makes me feel.

  • I can use my sketchbook to draw food using a variety of media, drawing from still images and from life, exploring how I can use line, shape, and colour to capture the texture and form of the food.

  • I can make a sculpture of food, understanding that by working in 3d my sculpture will be seen from different viewpoints. 

  • I can explore and experiment using “Design through Making”, and I can discover how I can transform and construct with different materials to make my sculpture. 

  • I have seen how my own sculpture can form part of a larger artwork, and how we can all find inspiration in each others’ ideas.

  • I can explore drawing on different surfaces such as fabric, understanding how the drawing materials act differently to when they are used on paper.

  • I can present my work as part of a larger artwork, and I can share my response to my own work and also to the work of my peers. 


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, water colour, graphite sticks, still life arrangement of food

Option 1: Paint Your Corner Shop – Acrylic or poster paint, pencils, handwriting pens, cartridge paper, sellotape, PVA glue, scissors.

Option 2: Feast from Modroc Construction Materials (see list here )


 

Pathway: Festival Feasts

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aim of the Pathway

    The aim of the pathway is to give children the opportunity to consolidate and further develop a variety of skills (drawing, painting, making) in a celebration of the ways food connects us, as families, cultures, and communities.

  • Week 1 & 2: Be Inspired

    Explore & Draw

    For the first two weeks, pupils will spend time looking at the artists below and making drawings in sketchbooks. 

  • Introduce

    Claes Oldenburg

    Cleas Oldenburg giant BLT vimeo https://vimeo.com/64073099

    Explore the sculptures of Claes Olderburg with our free to access “Talking Points: Claes Oldenburg” resource.

    Whilst watching the videos, ask children to fill a couple of sketchbook pages using “Making Visual Notes“. They may draw quick drawings of the sculptures, note down how the sculptures make them feel and also include any other thoughts that the videos prompt.

  • Introduce

    Lucia Hierro

    @Fountainhead: Lucia Hierro https://vimeo.com/185142596

    Explore the free to access “Talking Points: Lucia Hierro” to find out more about an artist who creates soft sculptures and installations related to corner shops.

    Children will fill one or two sketchbook pages using the “Making Visual Notes” resource, and consider the similarities and differences between Claes and Lucia. 

  • Introduce

    Rowan Briggs Smith

    Spaghetti Bolognese

    Explore “Making Mini Food” to see how a young artist made a collection of tiny plates of food.

     

  • Work in Sketchbooks

    Show Me What You See

    Drawing Source Material Food

    See the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Food” resource.

    Children will work in sketchbooks, using the “Show Me What You See” technique to help them visually explore food.

    During the exercise, draw the children’s attention to the visual elements of their drawings, including talking about shape, colour, texture and composition. Try to capture all these qualities using different materials (and combinations of materials) such as pen, ink, pastel, oil pastel, watercolour and pencil.

    By the end of the session sketchbooks should be full of pupil’s interpretations of different elements (shapes, lines etc) from the video.

    Drawing Speed

    Invite children to bring in food, or make a visit to a bakery and invite children to draw directly from life. How is it different to drawing from photographs? Use any of the drawing exercises on this page to inspire your drawings. 

  • Week 3, 4: Find your Focus

    Explore Painting or Sculpture

    Invite children to explore their favourite foods through either of these community focused paint or sculpture activities. 

  • Option 1

    Paint Your Corner Shop

    Final 3D Tins And Jars By Tobi Meuwissen

    Explore painting and sculpture with the “Paint Your Corner Shop” resource. This activity encourages children to think about foods that they like or have other connections to. Children will paint jars / tins of food in 3 different ways. The paintings can be turned into 3D sculptures to form a classroom shop installation.

    Start the session with a “Continuous Line Drawing” warm up. 


  • Or…

  • Option 2

    Feast from Modroc

    Donuts

    Give children the opportunity to work with new materials and make a “Feast from Modroc“. Making a sculptural feast allows each child to make their own sculpture which will contribute to a lavish class meal. Using modroc and other materials gives pupils the opportunity to explore texture and modelling as well as colour and form.

    Start week 3 by exploring the work of sculptor and artist Nicole Dyer whose work you can find on the free to access “Talking Points: Nicole Dyer” resource.

    You can find detailed information on using Mod Roc in the classroom here. 

  • Week 5: Collaborate

    Communal Picnic Drawing

    Drawing the picnic!

    Finish off the summer term with this fun “Communal Picnic” activity.

    Start by laying out the picnic – bring food which contributes colour, texture, pattern and form to inspire – and allow lots of space between the food objects to allow the children to work directly on to the cloth. If you are working with a whole class rather than just a few children then you may prefer to try this activity in the hall or even outside, working on more than one sheet.

    This activity gives children the chance to work on a new surface (use old sheets from charity shops) and see how using the materials is different to using them on paper. 

  • Week 6: Share and discuss

    Share, Reflect, Celebrate

    End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space.

    Depending upon the project option chosen, display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you. 

    Encourage children to reflect upon all stages of the journey, and reference the artists studied. 

    If available, children can use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work.

    Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

See This Pathway Used In Schools

Year 4, Balgowan Primary in Beckenham
Year 4, Balgowan Primary in Beckenham
Year 4, Balgowan Primary in Beckenham
Year 4, Balgowan Primary in Beckenham
Year 4/5, Cawthorne Primary
Year 4/5, Cawthorne Primary
Year 4/5, Cawthorne Primary
Brooklands Community Special School
Brooklands Community Special School
Brooklands Community Special School
Brooklands Community Special School
Year 5, Cathedral Primary School, Bristol

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Art Club Cafe

Making sculptural food in an after school club setting

Making sculptural food in an after school club setting

Sushi Drawing

Drawing inspired by Japanese Sushi

Drawing inspired by Japanese Sushi

Sushi Making

Making Sushi with recycled materials

Making Sushi with recycled materials


Mixed Media Landscape Challenges

See This Resource Used In Schools…

Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

This is featured in the 'Mixed Media Land and City Scapes' pathway

This is featured in the ‘Mixed Media Land and City Scapes’ pathway

Talking Points: Kittie Jones

Layered Landscapes by Kittie Jones

Talking Points: Vanessa Gardiner

Vanessa Gardiner- Landscape Painter https://vimeo.com/211454959

Talking Points: The Shoreditch Sketcher

Royal Academy by The Shoreditch Sketcher


Nests: With Dry and Wet Media

See This Resource Used In Schools…

Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, Sheffield High School
Year 6, St Teresa's School
Year 6, St Teresa's School
Year 6, St Teresa's School
Year 6, St Teresa's School
Emma Dodsworth, Ashmead Primary School, Lewisham
Emma Dodsworth, Ashmead Primary School, Lewisham

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

This is featured in the 'Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination' pathway

This is featured in the ‘Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination’ pathway

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Marcus Coates, Conference of the Birds, 2019, (excerpt) https://vimeo.com/518101698

Drawing source material: nests

Birds nest in tree, nature photography. Free public domain CC0 image.


Nests: Observational Ink Drawing

See This Resoucre Used In Schools…

Yr 5 Sutton Valence Preparatory School, Adaptation of Nests Pathway
Yr 5 Sutton Valence Preparatory School, Adaptation of Nests Pathway

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

This is featured in the 'Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination' pathway

This is featured in the ‘Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination’ pathway

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Explore parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves

Explore parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves

Drawing source material: nests

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing

A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing


Nests: Materials, Tools Testing and Sketchbooks

See This Resource Used In Schools…

Yr 5 Sutton Valence Preparatory School, Adaptation of Nests Pathway
Yr 5 Sutton Valence Preparatory School, Adaptation of Nests Pathway

You May Also Like…

Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

This is featured in the 'Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination' pathway

This is featured in the ‘Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & Determination’ pathway

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Marcus Coates, Conference of the Birds, 2019, (excerpt) https://vimeo.com/518101698

Drawing source material: nests

Birds nest in tree, nature photography. Free public domain CC0 image.


Pathway: Making Monotypes

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Printmaking (Monotype), Drawing, Painting, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That Monotype is a process where we make images by transferring ink from one surface to another to make a single print.

  • That we can use the “distance” that monotype gives us between mark making and outcome to make images with texture and a sense of history/process. 

  • That we can combine monotype with other disciplines such as painting and collage.

  • That we can make art by expressing our own personal response to literature or film. 

In this pathway children explore the process of making monotypes. The pathway starts with an introduction to monotypes, and then children explore the work of an artist who uses monotypes to build sculptures and installations.

Pupils develop their mark making skills through a simple warm up exercise, before focussing upon a project which gives them the opportunity to use the monotype process (combined with painting and collage) to make a “zine”, inspired by a piece of poetry. The pathway provides two ways of making monotypes according to the space and time you have available. 

Throughout the project pupils use sketchbooks to collect ideas, test methods, and explore colour, line and mark making. 

Medium:
Paper, Ink, Carbon Copy Paper, Paint

Artists: Kevork Mourad

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Ghost in the Garden Print
Ghost in the Garden Print
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

English: Use a poem or story to inspire making your own monotype books.

History: Make a zine about your theme or focus.

PSHE: Supports Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have understood what a Monotype is and can see how artists use monotypes in their work. I have been able to share my response to their work.

  • I can study drawings made by other artists and identify particular marks they have used in their drawings. I can use my sketchbook to create a collect of marks for me to use later.

  • I can listen to a piece of poetry and think about how the piece evokes colours, lines, shapes and words in my head, and I can use these to create imagery which captures the mood of the piece of poetry.

  • I can use my sketchbook to explore my ideas. 

  • I can use my mark making skills to create exciting monotypes, combining the process with painting and collage.

  • I can share my thinking and outcomes with my classmates. I can listen to their views and respond.

  • I can share my response to the artwork made by my classmates.

  • I can photograph my work, thinking about lighting, focus and composition.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, cartridge paper, black sugar paper, assorted papers/cards, old maps or newspapers, A1 cartridge paper, assorted small objects and plants, PVA glue, tape, scissors.


 

Pathway: Making Monotypes

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    The aims of this pathway is to remind/introduce pupils to the technique of making monotype and to enable them to use the technique to make artwork which is poetic and fluid. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    What is Monotype Printing?

    Monotype Vimeo Screenshot

    Use the free to access “What is Monotype?” resource to introduce pupils to the idea of making one off drawings through print. 

  • Introduce an Artist

    Explore the work of Kevork Mourad

    Kevork Mourad: the making of Seeing Through Babel https://vimeo.com/347106795

    Kervork Mourad creates huge sculptural monotypes on fabric. Find out about the concepts and processes that he uses. See the free to access “Talking Points: Kevork Mourad” resource.

    Use “Making Visual Notes” as a way to encourage children to collect information in their sketchbooks.

  • Week 2: Open Up Mark Making Vocabulary

    Finding Marks Made by Artists

    Monotypes rely on mark making. Use the “Finding Marks Made by Artists” resource to remind pupils of the vast array of marks that are open to them in their work. 

    Encourage children to work in sketchbooks to create a lexicon of marks made by varying the tool, hold, pressure, speed and intention of the way the mark is made. 

  • Week 3, 4, and 5: Using Monotype in a Project

    Creating a Visual Poetry Zine

    Monoprinted pages

    Over the next few sessions use the “Visual Poetry Zine with Monotype” resource to help pupils explore how they can use monotype to create their own personal books. 

    Invite pupils to use sketchbooks throughout as a place where they can test the monotype process and explore colour, line and mark making. 

  • Week 6: Talk

    Share, Reflect, Discuss

    Monoprinted pages folded into zine

    End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space. Talk about intention and outcome through a ‘crit’.

    Display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you.

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Monotype Videos

Videos to demonstrate various monotype processes

Videos to demonstrate various monotype processes


Pathway: Exploring Watercolour

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Painting (Watercolour)

Key Concepts:

  • That watercolour paint has special characteristics.

  • That we can use the elements of surprise and accident to help us create art.

  • That we can develop our painting by reflecting upon what we see, and adding new lines and shapes to help develop imagery. 

In this pathway children are introduced to watercolour. Through an open and exploratory approach, children not only discover what watercolour can do, how it acts and how they can “control” it, but also how the watercolour itself can help reveal the “story” of the painting. 

Themes:
Exploration, Discovery

Medium:
Watercolour

Artists: Paul Klee, Emma Burleigh

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum
Making marks with watercolour by Emma Burleigh
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Please find the CPD session recording of the Exploring Watercolour pathway here.

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt by choosing colour palettes which link with topics, e.g. blues/greens, for an exploration of imagery which evokes oceans. (The emphasis should remain on exploration of material, so any theme link should be applied lightly).

Maths: Explore identifying 2d shapes.

Music: Explore the connection between art & music and being in a mindful space.


I Can…

  • I can explore watercolour and understand the different effects I can achieve.

  • I can work without an end goal in mind – letting the paint lead me.

  • I have had the opportunity to see the work of other artists who use watercolour and share my thoughts about their work.

  • I can name and use primary colours and begin to understand how colours mix to make secondary colours.

  • I can understand that we all see different things in the artwork we make. We all have a different response. 

  • I can think about the marks I make and develop them further.

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Sketchbooks, A3 cartridge paper, watercolour paints, paint brushes, coloured pencils.


 

Pathway: Exploring Watercolour

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to enable children to enjoy a freeing exploration of watercolour, building their understanding of the properties of the medium, and opening minds as to how imagery can be created. 

  • Week 1: Exploring Watercolour

    Hands-On Exploration: What Can Watercolour Do?

    Exploring Through Watercolour

    Working on sheets of paper or in sketchbooks, start with an exploration of what watercolour can do. Give children the opportunity to discover for themselves the way watercolour acts, and to decide what they like about it as a medium. 

    Take the opportunity to remind children about the names of colours, and to highlight primary colours, BUT let them explore all colours – they will start to understand colour mixing through casual experience and accident. 

    In the first instance the children aren’t drawing anything, instead they are just mark making with watercolour on paper. The journey is as important as the outcome.

    To aid your exploration take a look at the following resources:

    The two videos above are made for slightly older children. Watch as a teacher to build your skill, and decide if you want to show any sections directly to your pupils. 

  • Week 2: Look & Talk

    Explore the Work of Paul Klee & Emma Burleigh

    Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum
    Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum

    Explore our free to access “Talking Points: Paul Klee” resource, and see the work of Emma Burleigh (who made the videos above). Talk as a class about your shared and individual responses to the work.

    Use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to encourage children to fill a couple of sketchbook pages with their personal responses to the artworks.

  • Week 3: Developing Skills

    Building Imagery Through Watercolour

    Exploring Watercolour

    Working on larger sheets of cartridge paper, children will continue to explore the kinds of marks that can be made with watercolour and the various techniques that can be used, this time working towards developing imagery from the imagination.

    Watch Emma’s video with the pupils, as she talks you through the process of the task. 

  • Week 4 & 5: Continue Painting Development

    Working with Momentum and Focus

    Exploring Watercolour

    Depending upon your pupils, develop the work and skills in the following ways:

    • If pupils need more time, allow them more time to work on the paintings they did in the previous week. 

    • If pupils have “finished”, invite them to make another painting using the same exploratory method, this time perhaps choosing different colours as a starting point.

    • Consider playing music in the classroom as the children paint. How does it change the energy levels and mood of the work?

    • If you are connecting this pathway to a curriculum theme, such as Continents, Oceans, Maps, Weather, Cities, Villages, Plants, Animals etc, then you may want to introduce the idea that children can explore these themes through watercolour painting BUT keep the exploration loose and open: don’t try to resist their exploration of the medium by controlling a desired “recognisable” end result. 

    • If you have some pupils who might like to push it further, watch “Part Three” from Emma Burleigh in which she works into dry watercolours with pen, pencils, crayons etc to build the image further. 

  • Week 6

    Share, reflect, discuss

    Peer Assessing work

    Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

    Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hardwork.

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams. 

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Year 1, Meadowside Academy
Reception, Broadway Infant School
Year 1, Winslow CE School
Year 1, Winslow CE School
Year 1, Winslow CE School
Year 1, Winslow CE School
Year 1, Winslow CE School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School
Parklands Primary School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

drawing fish with pen, pencil and watercolour

Explore drawing and painting materials

Explore drawing and painting materials

globe paintings

Let the paint decide what it wants to do

Let the paint decide what it wants to do


Pathway: Simple Printmaking

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Discipline:
Printmaking, Collage, Drawing

Key Concepts:

  • That we can make a “plate” from which to “print”

  • That there is a relationship between plate and print: e.g. negative / positive.

  • That we can use print to create “multiples”

  • That we can explore line, shape, colour and texture to explore pattern, sequence, symmetry and intention.

This pathway invites children to explore the world about them as a way to begin to understand the concept of “print”. 

Children use their own bodies, then things they collect around them, to create a variety of prints. They use their hands and feet to make prints, and they take rubbings of textures from the environment around them.  They make “plates” by making impressions in plasticine, and then by using printing foam. 

They explore how they can build up images by creating multiples, and use line, shape, colour and texture to explore pattern, sequencing and symmetry. 

Medium:
Paper, Printing Ink, Plasticine, Printing Foam

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!


Plastacine Prints
foam plate and print
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt to create imagery which explores symbols on maps.

History: Adapt to create portraits of significant individuals from history.

Maths: Pattern, repetition, pictorial representation, 2D/3D shapes.

Science: Adapt and use plants, trees, leaves, food chains, animals as inspiration to draw and make printed patterns.

PSHE: Peer discussion.


I Can…

  • I can make simple prints using my hands and feet. 

  • I can explore my environment and take rubbings of textures I find. 

  • I can use my rubbings to make an image.

  • I can push objects I find into plasticine and make prints.

  • I can cut shapes out of foam board and stick them on a block to make a plate. I can print from the plate.

  • I can draw into the surface of the foam board and print from the plate.

  • I can use colour, shape, and line to make my prints interesting.

  • I can create a repeat print.

  • I can create a symmetrical or sequenced print. 

  • I can use my sketchbook to collect my prints and test ideas.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Ready mixed paints, large sheets of cardboard (maybe primed with white paint), brushes, trays, soft pencils, handwriting pens, chalk, flowers for observation, collected objects (shells, leaves, twigs etc), wax crayons, plasticine, ink pads, printing foam, water soluble printing ink, small pieces of thick card, scrap sugar paper, glue, rollers.


 

Pathway: Simple Printmaking

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea that we can make single or multiple copies of an image through print. 

    Using simple methods to obtain relief prints, pupils explore the materials around them to understand how we can use repetition, pattern, colour, line, shape, and texture to make images. 

  • Week 1: Printing with your Body

    Hands, Feet and Flowers

    Begin an exploration of printmaking using the “Hand, Feet and Flowers” resource to explore other ways of printing patterns using our bodies. This activity can work outdoors on a large scale but can also work well on tables in small groups. 

    Through this activity pupils directly experience what it means to make a “print”, discover how much paint they need and how much pressure they might apply. Children can use primary paint colours, start using the names of the colours, and they can also use ready mixed paint in other colours. 

    In this resource, pupils overlay their printed imagery with drawn imagery based upon flowers. You can choose if you proceed to this second activity, or if you prefer to leave the work as prints only, or if you wish to apply another theme or focus, i.e. draw hands, insects, etc. 

  • Week 2: Making Rubbings

    Taking Rubbings & Making Compositions

    Taking Rubbings

    This week focus upon how you can make prints by rubbing dry materials such as wax crayon or pencil crayon, over textured objects.

    Encourage children to “think like an explorer” and venture into the classroom and playground to collect textures and objects which they can take rubbings from. Make sure children take rubbings from things around them like the ground, as well as from things which you can lift up and bring back to the classroom, like leaves.

    Invite children to use the rubbings to make a composition, working in a sketchbook or on large sheets. Adapt the “Taking Rubbings & Making Compositions” Resource.

  • Week 3, 4 & 5: Explore & Develop

    Exploring Relief Printing

    Over the next few weeks, explore the following printing methods, continuing as far into the exploration as pupils are able.

    Give pupils plenty of time for discovery, experimentation and practice.

    As pupils travel further along the journey they will learn new skills and discover more about how to use their prints to explore pattern and intention. 

  • Method 1: Plasticine Print

    Explore How Plasticine Can Be Used to Print

    Use the “Printing with Plasticine” resource to further explore how we can use the things we find around us to create impressions in plasticine which we can then print from.

    Collect shells, feathers, leaves, twigs, string, coins, lego etc, and invite the children to explore what happens when we push them into plasticine. What kinds of marks does each object leave in the plasticine? 

    Using ink pads with which to print means the plasticine will pick up even fine detail. 

    Once children have created a number of “prints” they can cut them out and stick them in their sketchbooks. 


  • Or…

  • Method 2: Foam Print

    Additive & Incised Printing

    foam plate and print

    Use foam board and explore how you can make prints in two ways using the “Print Foam – Making Relief Prints” 

    Making a repeat pattern - foam plate and print

    Once pupils have created a number of prints, they can then cut into their prints and collage with them on a larger sheet of paper, thinking about more abstract concepts like pattern and repetition, or using the printed elements to build an image related to a theme, such as architecture or insects or plants. 

  • Support with Drawing

    Observational Drawing

    Continuous line drawing

    Support the creation of prints with close observation and careful drawing using the “Continuous Line Drawing Exercise“.  Invite pupils to use a subject matter which informs the creation of prints, and work in sketchbooks. 

  • Week 6: Reflect & Discuss

    Share and Celebrate the Outcomes

    foam plate and print

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit” to finish the project. 

    Invite children to display the work in a clear space on tables or on the wall. Encourage positive language and a celebration of all their hard work! Recap with children about the exploration – where they started, what they discovered and what they enjoyed. 

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work, working in pairs or teams.

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Hands and Feet Year 1 @Whitchurch1
Hands and Feet Year 1 @Whitchurch1
Year 1, Combs Ford Primary School
Year 1, Combs Ford Primary School
Year 1/2, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 1/2, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 1/2, St Michaels Community Academy
Year 1, Sydenham High School Prep Art Studio
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 1, Abbey School, Torquay
Year 1, Abbey School, Torquay
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School
Laura Gilling, Davenham CofE Primary School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Make a Monogram

Create stamps using childrens initials

Create stamps using childrens initials


Pathway: Mixed Media Land And City Scapes

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Painting, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That artists use a variety of media often combining it in inventive ways, to capture the energy and spirit of land or city scapes.

  • That artists often work outside (plein air) so that all their senses can be used to inform the work.

  • That as artists we are able to experiment with materials, combining them to see what happens. We can feel free and safe to take creative risks, without fear of getting things “wrong”.

  • We can share our artistic discoveries with, and be inspired by each other.

  • We can use sketchbooks to focus this exploration and we do not always need to create an “end result” – sometimes the exploratory journey is more than enough. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that artists don’t just work in studios – instead they get out into the world and draw and paint from life, inspired by the land and city scapes where they live. Pupils also see how artists use their creative freedom to explore ways of working which involve different materials and media. 

Pupils extend and adapt existing sketchbooks so that they can make drawings/paintings at different scales and ratios. They are enabled to take creative risks, explore and experiment, without the pressure of having to “produce” an end result. 

Pupils are given the freedom to use mixed medium in ways which suit them and their subject matter.

Medium:
Graphite stick or soft B pencil, Handwriting Pen, Pastels & Chalk, Paper, (Sketchbook Making Task: Paper, string, elastic bands, glue)

Artists: Vanessa Gardiner, Shoreditch Sketcher, Kittie Jones, Saoirse Morgan

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

detail
Blending pastel colours
resist
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Link your landscapes to your chosen topic e.g. cities in the Northern hemisphere, settlements and land use, digital mapping.

Science: Local habitat, Environmental changes.

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have seen how artists respond to land and city scapes in various ways by using inventive mixed media combinations.

  • I have seen how artists work outside amongst the land and city scapes which inspire them, and how they use all their senses to capture the spirit of the place. I have been able to share my response to their work.

  • I can extend my sketchbook thinking creatively about how I can change the pages giving myself different sizes and shapes of paper to work on.

  • I can use my sketchbook to explore and experiment. I have taken creative risks and been able to reflect upon what worked and what didn’t work. 

  • I have continued my exploratory work outside the sketchbooks, bringing my “sketchbook way of thinking” to larger sheets of paper. 

  • I can share my journey and discoveries with others and am able to reflect upon what I have learnt.

  • I can appreciate and be inspired by the work of my classmates, and I can share my response to their work.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, handwriting pens, sharpies, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, charcoal, water colour, acrylic paint, ink, assorted papers and envelopes, glue.


 

Pathway: Mixed Media Land & City Scapes

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to introduce pupils to working in mixed media to create land or city scapes with energy and a sense of place.

    This pathway is about experimenting and exploring. The emphasis is on creative risk taking and discovery. 

    Children are encouraged to explore the format and composition of their work, and explore lots of media combinations through exploratory work.

  • Week 1: Introduce

    Vanessa Gardiner & The Shoreditch Sketcher

    Vanessa Gardiner- Landscape Painter https://vimeo.com/211454959

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Vanessa Gardiner” resource to introduce pupils to an artist that takes her inspiration from the landscape. 

    Compare and contrast Vanessa with the Shoreditch Sketcher via “Talking Points: The Shoreditch Sketcher” resource. 

    Piccadilly by The Shoreditch Sketcher
    Piccadilly by The Shoreditch Sketcher

    Use “Making Visual Notes” to help pupils record and reflect on the artists’ work, and identify the things which might be of interest in their own work. 

  • Week 2: Extend a Sketchbook

    Sketchbook Places & Spaces

    Making a simple folded sketchbook

    Use the “Sketchbooks Places & Spaces” resource to extend bought or made sketchbooks. 

    The idea here is to add pages of different sizes and ratios. Use cartridge paper or neutral sugar paper so that it can take a variety of media next week. 

    Make some pages which are long and thin and can fold back into the book accordian style. Make other pages fat and wide. Encourage pupils to think creatively about how they can extend their sketchbook ready for the next few weeks. 

  • Week 3 & 4 & 5: Introduce & Explore

    Be Inspired by Kittie Jones or Saoirse Morgan

    Kittie Jones

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Kittie Jones” or the “Talking Points: Saoirse Morgan” resource to be inspired by how the artist combines different media in their work to capture the energy and spirit of place. 

    Again use the “Making Visual Notes” resource to get pupils to think about the chosen artists approach approach in sketchbooks.

  • Time to Experiment & Create

    Exploring Mixed Media

    In the Oise Valley (ca. 1878–1880) by Paul Cézanne. Original from The MET Museum.

    With the emphasis on exploration and experimentation, ensure pupils work in sketchbooks, or if it feels right towards the end of the project on larger sheets of paper, to discover how they can use different combinations of media to capture the energy and spirit of place. 

    Use the “Mixed Media Landscape Challenges” resource to inspire and enable their exploration. Allow children to take their time and give them the space to explore as many of the challenges as feels right. We recommend structuring the challenges so all pupils do the same challenge at the same time.

    Ideally pupils will be able to draw outside, in whatever your local habitat is – the school grounds, or a local park. Try to work outside for at least one session, but if this is not possible or you wish to draw from a different kind of land or city scape (for example to link in with a curriculum theme) then pupils can draw from image or film. 

    You may like to use the free to access resources below as source imagery – or find your own.  

    Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage over Urban Landscapes

    Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage over Rural Landscapes

  • Additional Inspiration

    Graphite Sketches

    drawing shedTake inspiration from the ‘Graphite Sketches‘ resource and encourage pupils to explore perspective, tone and mark-making using water-soluble graphite and brushes.

  • If you wish to extend or challenge:

    Introduction to Watercolour

    Working wet on wet

    You may wish to use the “Introduction to Watercolour” resource if you wish to steer pupils towards a final outcome using watercolour. However, we’d emphasis that this isn’t necessary and a great deal of skills will have been learnt through the above exploration. 

  • Week 6: Present & Share

    Share, Reflect, Discuss

    graphite sketch of shed

    Time to see the work which has been made, talk about intention and outcome.

    Display the work in a clear space, with sketchbooks open on desks – encouraging pupils to carefully and respectfully look in each others books. Walk around the work as if you were in a gallery. Give the work the respect it deserves. Remind the children of their hard work.

    If you have class cameras or tablets, invite the children to document their work.

    You might like to assemble any loose drawings made on sheets into a Backwards Sketchbook

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit”.

See How This Resource Is Used in Schools…

Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Whitchurch Primary
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, Winslow CE School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Year 5, St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School
Emma Matthews, Year 5, St Hilary's School
Emma Matthews, Year 5, St Hilary's School
Emma Matthews, Year 5, St Hilary's School
Emma Matthews, Year 5, St Hilary's School
Emma Matthews, Year 5, St Hilary's School

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Talking Points: Mark Hearld

Explore the work of printmaker, collager and ceramicist

Explore the work of printmaker, collager and ceramicist

Never-Ending Landscapes

Take inspiration from observational drawings to create fictional landscapes

Take inspiration from observational drawings to create fictional landscapes

Sculptural Environments inspired by Hockney

Create a class installation inspired by artist David Hockney

Create a class installation inspired by artist David Hockney

Talking Points: Saoirse Morgan

Explore the work of seascape painter Saoirse Morgan

Explore the work of seascape painter Saoirse Morgan

Layers in the landscape

Create relief sculptures of the landscape

Create relief sculptures of the landscape

diary of a sculptural sketchbook

Sculpt the landscape out of the paper

Sculpt the landscape out of the paper

Painting the storm

A weather-inspired exploration of watercolour and graphite

A weather-inspired exploration of watercolour and graphite


Pathway: Music And Art

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Making, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That artists sometimes use sound to inspire their work. 

  • That artists sometimes work in partnership with musicians. 

  • That we can use both aural and visual senses to make art.

  • That we can draw from our imagination, using lots of different kinds of abstract marks to express our feelings, whether they are quiet and focussed, or loud and expressive.

  • That we can be inventive and make objects in 3 dimensions which make sounds, and which we want to interact with as humans. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that artists often work in partnership and are often inspired by other art forms – in this case music and the visual arts. 

Children explore how other artists have used sound to inspire their artwork, and then go on to experiment with how they can use their mark making skills to both be influenced by, and to capture, the expression in music. 

Children then explore making skills to collage or make inventive instruments, creating a class “orchestra”.

Medium:
Paper, Drawing Materials, Paint, Construction Materials

Artists: Kandinsky, Various “Projection Mapping” artists

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Adding some colour to a mythical instrument
Some people invented a new instrument by joining lots of things together
Using scrap card and a jam jar lid to create castanets
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt the music you listen and draw to, according to geographical region or continent to help develop sense of place.

Science: The 5 senses, the human body, materials.

Music: Rhymes and chants, musical instruments, combining sounds.

PSHE: Explore the music made from instruments from other countries, Collaboration, Peer Discussion.


I Can…

  • I have seen how some artists are inspired by other artforms such as music. I can share my response to their work, and listen to others.

  • I can listen to sounds, and use my mark making skills to make marks in response.

  • I can draw from observation whilst listening to a piece of music, and let the music inspire my drawing.

  • I can use my imagination and work on a larger scale to make drawings of imaginative instruments, or I can use my hands to invent musical instruments made from construction materials.

  • I can share my work with the class.

  • I can reflect upon what I have made and share my work with the class. I can listen to their responses to my work, and talk about my response to their work. 

  • I can take photos of my artwork.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, coloured pencils or pastels, handwriting pens.

Project 1: Paint an Imaginary Orchestra – Large (A1 or A2) cartridge paper or thin card, coloured paper, foil or metallic paper, marker pens, scissors, tape, paint, brushes.

Project 2: Making Musical Instruments – cardboard, wood, buttons, lids, shells, string, ribbons and other construction materials.


 

Pathway: Music and Art

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aim of Pathway

    The aim of this pathway is to introduce pupils to some of the links between art and music. Pupils use rhythm and sound to inspire artwork. 

  • Week 1: Slow Drawing

    Drawing to a Metronome

    Crinkled paper

    Settle students with some “Drawing to the Slow Rhythm of a Metronome“. Invite children to make careful, slow drawings with a sharp graphite pencil. Work in sketchbooks and introduce to children the idea that making drawings can be a quiet, slow, thoughtful activity. 

  • Introduce an Artist

    Wassily Kandinsky

    "File:Vasily Kandinsky, Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913, 1931.511, Art Institute of Chicago.jpg" by Wassily Kandinsky is marked with CC0 1.0.

    Explore the work of Kandinsky who was a pioneer in abstraction. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Wassily Kandinsky” resource to find out what synaesthesia is, and how it helped him to paint music. Encourage children to have their sketchbooks open to make some “Making Visual Notes“.

  • Week 2: Work in Sketchbooks

    Mark Making and Sound

    Mark Making & Sound

    Enable learners to develop their mark-making skills with these 3 “Mark Making and Sound” exercises.

    This activity explores how we can use sound as a stimulus to develop the kinds of marks we can make.

    Children will find out how abstract mark making can capture the spirit of a piece of music.

    Children will then take what they have learnt about rhythm and mark making into observational drawing.

  • Introduce an Artist

    Tomoko Kawao

    Tomoko Kawao https://vimeo.com/226541019Explore the free to access “Talking Points: Tomoko Kawao” resource to discover an artist who makes large scale work using one unbroken movement of a brush.

    Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation. 

  • Week 3: Sketchbooks

    Show Me What You See

    OrchestraWorking in sketchbooks, use the “Show Me What You See” technique to help pupils visually explore orchestras and musical instruments. Take inspiration from the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Orchestras and Instruments“.

    During the exercise, draw the children’s attention to the visual elements of the artwork, including talking about shape, colour and composition. As well as using line in sketchbooks to describe shapes, also use colour (pastel, crayon, pens etc).

    By the end of the session sketchbooks should be full of pupil’s interpretations of different elements (shapes, lines etc) from the video.

  • Take a Break & Inspire

    Exploring Projection Mapping

    2018 Light Odyseey Vimeo ScreenshotIf you feel your pupils would benefit from being inspired by more art made by artists, introduce them to Projection Mapping and music with this video by Light Odyssey in our free to access “Talking Points: What is Projection Mapping“. 

    Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation.

  • Play

    Paint Music with Google Arts & Culture

    Finish the session with this fun interactive activity

  • Week 4 & 5: Find your Focus

    Explore Making or Drawing Instruments

    For the next two weeks work on one of the projects below. 

  • Option 1

    Paint an Imaginary Orchestra

    Some people collaborated to make their instrument

    Start the session with “Backwards Forwards” drawings before moving on to creating a “Cheerful Orchestra“.

    This workshop brings together mythical beasts and musical notes, however it can be adapted to link with curriculum topics such as animals or food.

    Encourage children to draw large and fast so that they can explore a range of materials to create the details. 

    This resource is split into 3 different parts. Depending on time you can pick and choose which activities you’d like your class to do.

    The first part of this resource explores inventing instruments. This is followed by responding to music with narrative. The final part of the activity entails children creating a self portrait of themselves playing an instrument.

    By the end of the session children will have formed an extraordinary noisy orchestra.


  • Or…

  • Option 2

    Making Musical Instruments

    A ribbed percussion instrument with beater made from card

    If you think your children would benefit, warm up using the “Making Prompt Cards” and follow on by creating music instruments below.

    Explore recycled materials to “Make Musical Instruments” and explore sound making. 

    This activity not only explores the process of making but also how to produce different sounds and rhythms with the invented musical instruments.

    Encourage children to make decisions about  material, form, design and colour, experimenting using simple tools to create unusual, surprising sounds.

  • Week 6: Reflect and Discuss

    Present, Talk, Share and Celebrate

    Some people invented a new instrument by joining lots of things together

    End the pathway by taking time to appreciate the developmental stages and the final outcomes in a clear space.

    Depending upon the project option chosen, display the work appropriately including having open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you. 

    Encourage children to reflect upon all stages of the journey, and reference the artists studied. 

    If available, children can use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work. 

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

movement maps

Translate lines, marks and pattern into movement and memories

Translate lines, marks and pattern into movement and memories

Painting the storm

Create a stormy painting to the sound of rainy weather

Create a stormy painting to the sound of rainy weather

Sketchbooks & Performance

Create expressive drawings in response to performers and audiences

Create expressive drawings in response to performers and audiences


Pathway: Making Animated Drawings

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Drawing, Animation, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That artists can make animations by creating drawings which move in a sequence.

  • That we can use all our mark making skills and imagination to make our drawings visually engaging.

  • That we can use our moving drawings to share narratives. 

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that animations can be made by sequencing drawings. 

After exploring the work of other artists making drawn animations, children make simple “paper puppets” with moving parts. Pupils also make a “background” for their puppets, and if you wish, then go on to make very simple animations using tablets. 

Medium:
Paper, (Digital media)

Artists: Lauren Child, Steve Kirby, Andrew Fox, Lucinda Schreiber

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

animation2
animation5
Year 3 pupils at milton Road Primary School and their Articulated Beasts
ages 5-8
ages 9-11

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

English: Bring characters from literature to life.

History: Make an animated drawing / portrait of a well know historical figure.

Maths: Measuring, weight, position, direction, movement.

Science: Animals, the human body, habitats, materials.

Music & Drama: Link to drama to collaborate and act out short narratives.


I Can…

  • I can talk about the work of other animators who make animations from their drawings. I can share what I like, and how it makes me feel.

  • I can use my sketchbook to gather ideas from other artists, and start to think about a simple moving drawing I might make.

  • I can use observational skills to look at source material to inspire my character and make drawings. 

  • I can use my imagination to think about how my character might move.

  • I can create a background for my character.

  • I can use digital media to film my animation.

  • I can share my moving drawing, either through an animation or by showing classmates how it would move. 

  • I can reflect and articulate my thoughts about my own artwork and that of my peers. 


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, handwriting pens, white and/or corrugated card, paper fasteners for moving joints, kebab sticks, masking tape, ready mixed paints, scissors.

(For shared background drawing) Black ink in pots, feathers cut as quills, black handwriting pens, Sharpies, pencils, roll of paper.


 

Pathway: Making Animated Drawings

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • The Aims of the Pathway

    The aim of this pathway is to introduce children to the idea that we can create moving imagery through sequenced drawings. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    What is Animation?

    Introduce children to the idea that we can make single drawings and then string them together to make the drawings move. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Making Drawings Move” resource to explore this idea.

  • Explore

    Show Me What You See

    Painting onto a Monotype Plate With Acrylic By Tobi Meuwissen

    Working in a sketchbook, use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: The Natural World” resource to practice drawing skills.

    Think about how you can challenge pupils to make line drawings of animals using a handwriting pen (so they don’t worry about mistakes). Pause a moment on the video, give them a time limit of say 1 minute, and invite them to make a line drawing in one continuous line. Then move the film on, pause again and repeat. The drawings can be on the same page – like flickers or memories. The aim is just to warm up and to begin to tune into lines and shapes of animals and how they move. Use the “Show Me What You See” resource to support your facilitation.

  • Week 2: Explore

    Paper Cut Puppets

    paper cut puppets showreel

    Watch the free to access “Talking Points: Paper Cut Puppets Showreel” to explore what might be possible when you make paper “puppets” which you can then animate. 

    With sketchbooks open as you watch the showreel above, invite the children to begin “Making Visual Notes” in their sketchbooks.  Ask them to pretend to be “magpies” and to jot down anything that they see which they would like to try. What catches their eye? Perhaps challenge them to keep their notes on one page so that the page is full of ideas and words. It doesn’t have to be in order, and colour could be used too. 

    Play the showreel more than once, pause it regularly and invite children to talk about what they see and what they like. 

    This kind of learning (gathering information) is a skill, so take it slowly and give them time to practice. Purposely stop the film in the resource and ask them to turn to their sketchbook to add notes. 

    Let children know that they will be creating their own paper “puppet” and describe their theme or area of focus might be (ie animals which live in the jungle, Ancient Egyptians etc). Then continuing in sketchbooks, and using source material which is appropriate to your theme, ask them to start planning what their puppet might be, and what action they would like it to perform.

    N.B Key here is that the action should be simple. For example, rolling eyes or moving an arm might be enough. Picking up a ball and throwing it will be too much for most children in the time given. 

  • Week 3,4 and 5

    Make Your Moveable Drawings

    Animating Dog

    Use the following resources to enable children to make their moveable drawings.

    Please note all these resources follow a similar plan so visit them all and combine to suit.

    Cardboard Robots with Moveable Joints

    Making Drawings that Move

    Making Articulated Beasts Part 1

    Articulated Animals

  • Invigorate!

    Explore the Work of Lauren Child

    Lauren Child video

    At a point when children need an injection of energy, introduce them to the work of Lauren Child through the free to access “Talking Points: Lauren Child” resource. Explore how Lauren works as an artist and look for clues and tips in her working process. Use sketchbooks for “Making Visual Notes“. 

  • Additional Activity

    Creating a Background

    Adobe- Art As Activism Vimeo Screenshot

    You may like to invite the pupils to create a background for their moveable drawings, appropriate to the theme.

    This could be a shared drawing, as shown in the “Shared Ink Drawing” resource, or it could be a drawn background for each child.

  • Additional Activity

    Animating the Drawings

    If you have access to tablets, you may like to animate some of the drawings, you could also spend less time making the moveable drawings and more time animating them if that is of interest to you.

    Frame 1 drawn on the flipaclip app.

    Find out how to make digital animations using the “Exploring Digital Animation” resource.

  • Week 6: Present Work

    Share, Reflect, Celebrate

    Year 3 pupils at milton Road Primary School and their Articulated Beasts

    If children have animated their articulated beasts, pull down the blinds and watch all of the animations together. 

    Present all work in a clear space and take the opportunity to visit all work made like a mini gallery. Use the “Crits in the Classroom” resource.

See This Pathway Used In Schools

Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Kate Anderson, Year 3 Redesdale Primary School.
Year 3, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 3, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 3, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

A School full of characters

Explore capturing facial expressions through cartoon sketches

Explore capturing facial expressions through cartoon sketches

Chimera Drawings

Create chimera drawings and use the 'articulated beasts' resource to make them move

Create chimera drawings and use the ‘articulated beasts’ resource to make them move


Pathway: Flora And Fauna

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That artists can be inspired by the flora and fauna around them.

  • That we can use careful looking to help our drawing, and use drawing to help looking.

  • That we can use a variety of materials to make images, and that the images we make can become imaginative.

  • That we can create individual artwork, and that we can bring that artwork together to make a shared artwork.

In this pathway children are introduced to the idea that many artists use flora and fauna to inspire their work. We look at artists who used drawing as a way to accurately capture the way plants and insects look, and artists who use their imagination to create their own versions of flora and fauna.

Children spend time engaged in close looking as a way to build drawing skills. They also experiment with new materials. 

They practice cutting and collage skills and explore shape and colour to build images.

Finally there is the opportunity for children to work collaboratively on a shared background for the artwork, and pupils can see how their individual efforts are valued as part of a larger class artwork. 

Medium:
Handwriting pen, Graphite, Oil pastel, Paper & Collage

Artists: Eric Carle, Joseph Redoute, Jan Van Kessel

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

k4
Oil pastel and graphite fly
The Wildflower Meadow by Rachel Burch
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

English: Explore The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or books illustrated in similar style.  

Geography: Explore habitats, soil, vegetation, cities/towns/villages, seasonal weathers. Use language which supports these ideas.  

Science: Identify common and wild plants, insects, food chains, life cycle, living and decay. 

PSHE: Responsibility to the planet, Collaboration, Peer Discussion. 


I Can…

  • I have enjoyed looking at art made by other artists inspired by flora and fauna. 

  • I can look closely at insects and plants and make drawings using pen to describe what I see.

  • I can experiment using graphite and oil pastel and make my own insects.

  • I can cut out shapes in different colours, and use these shapes to make an insect or bug. I can think about its body parts and what I would like them to look like.

  • I can work with my classmates to make a shared drawing.

  • I can share my artwork with the class. I can listen to what my classmates like about it and I can share what I like about their work. 


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Sketchbooks, soft pencils, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, handwriting pens, graphite, collage papers, A1 paper, water colour and/or ready mixed paint over sugar paper, brushes, scrap papers.


Pathway: Inspired by Flora & Fauna

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of Pathway

    The aim of this pathway is to introduce children to the idea that artists can be inspired by the flora and fauna around them. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    Explore the Work of Artists Who Are Inspired by Flora & Fauna

    Introduce children to the work of one or more artists on the free to access “Talking Points: Artists Inspired by Flora & Fauna” resource. Use the resource as a starting point to encourage an exploration. You may also have artists local to you who are inspired by your local flora and fauna. 

    Invite pupils to make drawings in their sketchbooks of their favourite artworks as a way of enabling them to start to build a collection of “experiences” in their sketchbook. Make time as you look at the resource above for this activity. 

  • Week 2: Show Me What You See

    Drawing from Film

    Drawing Insects

    Working from the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Insects” resource, invite children to make drawings of the insects, working in their sketchbooks.

    Pause the films at various points, and invite the children to verbally describe what they see, what they notice, before inviting them to make sketches in their books. As they sketch, give them a time limit (like 5 or 10 minutes) and talk to them about the things they just noticed, so that they think of these things as they draw.

    Use a handwriting pen and encourage them to make their drawings fill the page. 

    Use the “Show Me What You See” to support your facilitation.

  • Week 3: Deepen the Exploration

    Using Graphite and Oil Pastel

    Oil pastel and graphite fly

    Use the “Graphite and Oil Pastel” resource to encourage children to expand their mark making.

    Pupils can draw again from the films above, or from colour photocopies, or if you can get them, buy (or loan) insect samples. Encourage children to continue close and careful looking. 

    Remember this is also about learning how a new material works (oil pastel and chunky graphite). Pupils will need to work on a slightly larger scale to accommodate the medium.

  • Week 4 & 5

    Make Your Minibeast Collage

    Invite the children to make individual mini beast collages which you can display as one. Use the “Mini Beast Artwork” resource. 

  • Inspire

    Introduce Eric Carle

    Eric Carles Very Hungry Caterpillar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0INNN6jh74&t=395s

    When you feel children need a break or need inspiring, use the free to access “Talking Points: Eric Carle” resource to invigorate them. 

  • Extension

    Collaborate

    The Wildflower Meadow by Rachel Burch

    If you have time, or if you have a group of pupils who need a challenge, invite them to work together to make a painting of a flower meadow. This could exist as an artwork in itself, or as a background to your collaged minibeasts.

    Use the “Drawing Source Material: Wild Flower Meadow” resource if they need to work from imagery. 

    Use the “Wild Flower” resource to see a painting activity which you can use. 

  • Week 6: Share & Celebrate

    Display, Reflect & Talk

    Lucia Hierro Youtube Screenshot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHD8tPUyaVQ

    Tidy the room and make space to see the sketchbook work as well as the final outcomes. 

    Remind the pupils of the progress they made, and the artists they saw along the way. Invite them to make links between the work they made in sketchbooks, on drawing sheets and final pieces, and the work by artists. 

    Encourage them to feel safe to share how they feel about their own work, and nurture an environment where pupils feel able to comment on their classmates work, treating everyones work with respect.

    Use the resource here to help you run a class “crit”.

See This Pathway Used In Schools

Penny Kemp, @mrskempcreativeteaching
Penny Kemp, @mrskempcreativeteaching
Penny Kemp, @mrskempcreativeteaching

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Make insect sculptures

Create shiny insect sculptures

Create shiny insect sculptures

Drawing with tape

Create a forest on a classroom wall

Create a forest on a classroom wall


Pathway: Be An Architect

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Architecture, Drawing, Sketchbooks, Collage, Making

Key Concepts:

  • That architects design buildings and other structures which relate to our bodies and which enhance our environment. 

  • That architects take inspiration from the environment their building will exist in, and from the people they will serve, to design exciting structures. 

  • That we can use drawing as a way to help us process and understand other people’s work. 

  • That we can use digital tools such as drones and film to inspire us.

  • That we can use our imaginations to make architectural models to explore how we might design buildings relating to a particular need or stimulus.

  • That we can use “Design Through Making” (some call it Make First) as a way to connect our imagination, hands and materials. 

This pathway gives pupils the opportunity to explore architecture. We start with an exploration of architects and some of the ways they work, and pupils then go on to create their own architectural model. 

The pathway can be adapted so that the pupils make architecture which relates to their own environment, a chosen brief, or in response to another culture, country or era. 

Themes:
Habitat, Community, Culture, Purpose

Medium:
Construction Materials

Artists: 
Hundertwasser, Zaha Hadid, Heatherwick Studios

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson. 

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Be an Architect!
My front porch - building with strips of corrugated cardboard
Anglo Saxon Building
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Please find the CPD session recording of the Be An Architect pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Geography: Adapt to explore habitats, cities, towns and villages, ports & harbours.

History: Make houses inspired by the architecture of different ages or cultures, for example buildings damaged during the Great Fire of London.

Maths: Use language which supports understanding of Measuring, 2D/3D shapes.

Science: Explore properties of materials e.g. make your architecture waterproof, rough, smooth?

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion, Ethnic Identity, Different Religions (architecture representative of).


I Can:

  • I have explored the work of some architects. I have seen that they design buildings, and that “architecture” can be large, incredible buildings, or smaller places near where I live.

  • I can share how architecture makes me feel, what I like and what I think is interesting.

  • I can use my sketchbook to help me look at architecture really carefully. I have used drawings and notes. I have explored line and shape. 

  • I have seen how architects use their imaginations to try to design buildings which make people’s lives better and I can use my own imagination when thinking about architecture I might design.

  • I can make an architectural model of a building around a theme thinking about form, structure and balance, and the way the model looks.

  • I can explore a variety of materials and explore how I can reshape the materials and fasten them together to make my model. 

  • I have seen that I don’t need to design on paper first; that I can design as I make. 

  • I have reflected upon what I have made, shared it with others, and been able to share my thoughts about my own piece and the models of my classmates. 

  • I can used digital media to document my work, including taking photographs and short videos.


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Materials

Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, felt tip pens, handwriting pens,

Construction Materials (see list here )


 

Pathway: Be An Architect

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea that architects design and make buildings, and to give pupils the opportunity to explore architecture around them, and to create their own architectural models. 

  • Week 1: Introduce

    What Is Architecture?

    Architecture

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Thinking about Architecture” resource to begin an exploration of architecture. 

    Create a conversation around more well known architecture and architecture in your local environment. What are the landmarks in your area – old or new?

  • Drawing to Aid Looking

    Explore & Draw

    Invite children to work in sketchbooks. Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Exploring Architecture” resource to inspire drawings using the pupil’s chosen drawing medium. We suggest using a handwriting pen, and challenging the pupils to make several drawings – perhaps taking no longer than 5 or 10 minutes each. Guide the children with your voice during the drawing session to the things you would like them to notice.

  • Week 2: Introducing an Artist

    Exploring the Work of Hundertwasser

    hundertwasser by twicepix

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Hundertwasser the Architect” resource to introduce pupils to the work of an architect.

    Use the images and videos to frame a discussion around his work and enable the pupils to articulate their response.

  • Drawing to Aid Thinking

    Show Me What You See

    Use sketchbooks and the “Show Me What You See” method to help pupils with “Making Visual Notes” about what they see and think. They might use pen, pencil, coloured crayons, felt tips, to gather information and collect ideas as they see the images on the whiteboard. Make sure any notes they write can be single words (i.e. they don’t have to write full sentences). 

  • Weeks 3,4 & 5

    Making Architecture

    Street view!

    Use the “Be An Architect” resource to enable pupils to create their own architectural inventions. 

    Provide plenty of materials and try to use the “Design Through Making” approach. 

    Take your time with the making and give children time to start to understand what different materials can do for them, and how they can manipulate materials and fasten them together. 

    Remember children are not making pieces of architecture “in the style of” an artist or architect. Instead, they are making their own work, though they will have their minds opened by looking at the work of other creative practitioners.

    Encourage children to be inventive about what kinds of shapes and structure they use and which three dimensional forms they want to create. How will their pieces of architect stand? What is their purpose? Who are they for?

    Be an Architect!

    Encourage the use of colour/coloured materials to further develop the pieces, and have sketchbooks open on desks and encourage children to reference them and add to them. 

    Inspired by Anglo Saxon architecture

    Link the project to architecture from other cultures, countries and eras if you would like to link it to other curriculum areas.

    Or, if you would like children to make pieces of architecture more relevant to their local community, think about how you can bring in images or visits of local areas as a backdrop to their work. (see “You May Also Like” below for more resources to help this).


  • Interventions

    Use one or more of the following “interventions” if you feel children need more stimulation. 

  • Intervention 1

    Being Imaginative

    Bridge Design

    Use the free to access “Talking Points: Bridge Design” resource to help children see how architecture can be almost anything. You may not want them to design bridges (though you may!) but talk about these bridge designs as a way to open their minds to be brave and use their imagination. 

  • Intervention 2

    Inspired by Drones

    Drone footage

    Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Drone Footage” resource to give children a fresh perspective on the world. Does it change how they think about their own designs? 

  • Week 6: Share & Celebrate

    Present, Reflect, Review

    My front porch - building with strips of corrugated cardboard

    Clean a space and present the finished architectural models next to the sketchbooks. Give all work the space it deserves and encourage children to walk around as if they were in a gallery – discussing the work with their partners before coming together as a class. Use the “Class Crit” resource to help. 

    Invite children to take photographs or films of their architectural models. Encourage them to really get down on eye level with their models to create interesting images, and use windows and doors as viewpoints. You might also like them to use lighting (torches) to create shadows. 

    Explore how children can take high quality photographs of 3d artwork with this resource.

See This Pathway Used In Schools

Year 2, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 2, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 2, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Year 2, Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

Houses from Around the World

Drawing and Collaging

Drawing and Collaging

My House

A Cardboard Construction Project

A Cardboard Construction Project

Ink & Foamboard Architecture

Exploring Colour and Form

Exploring Colour and Form


Pathway: Gestural Drawing with Charcoal

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines: Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

  • That when we draw we can use gestural marks to make work.

  • That when we draw we can use the expressive marks we make to create a sense of drama.

  • That when we draw we can move around.

  • That when we draw we can use light to make our subject matter more dramatic, and we can use the qualities of the material (charcoal) to capture the drama.

In this pathway, children discover how to make drawings that capture a sense of drama or performance using charcoal.

Children are freed from the constraints of creating representational drawings based on observation – instead they use the qualities of the medium to work in dynamic ways. Linking drawing to the whole body helps children see drawing as a physical activity, whilst a sense of narrative feeds the imagination. 

This pathway will take approximately half a term, based upon a weekly art lesson. 

Theme:
Cave art, Movement, Human Body, Relationship of Body to Place

Medium:
Charcoal, Paper, Body

Artists: 
Heather Hansen, Laura McKendry, Edgar Degas

If you use this resource in your setting, please tag us on social media: #InspiredBy @accessart (facebook, twitter) @accessart.org.uk (instagram) and share the url. Thank you!

Drawing round hands
charcoal cave
ages 5-8

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Find the Zoom CPD session introducing this pathway here.

Find a Zoom CPD exploring the properties of Charcoal here.

Before you begin, explore some simple tips for improving outcomes from this pathway here.


Curriculum Links

Music & Drama: Listen to music to influence marks and movement while children do the “Dancing with Charcoal”.


I Can…

  • I have seen how artists use charcoal in their work. I have been able to talk about the marks produced, and how I feel about their work.

  • I have experimented with the types of marks I can make with charcoal, using my hands as well as the charcoal.

  • I can work on larger sheets of paper, and I can make loose, gestural sketches using my body.

  • I can understand what Chiaroscuro is and how I can use it in my work.

  • I can use light and dark tonal values in my work, to create a sense of drama. 

  • I have used my body as a drawing tool to make drawings inspired by movement, and seen how other artists do the same.

  • I have taken photographs of my work, thinking about focus, lighting, and composition.

  • I have shared my work with my classmates and talked about what I felt was successful and what I might like to try again. I can voice what I like about my classmates work and how it makes me feel. 


Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Shorten or lengthen the suggested pathway according to time and experience. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.


Watch Artist  Lancelot Richardson to find out about the different types of charcoal and how you can use them in the “Introduction to Charcoal” resource.

Use hairspray as a “fixative” for the chalk drawings. Spray outside or in a well ventilated room.


Materials

A2 sugar paper, A4 paper for ‘pallets’, willow charcoal, erasers, hairspray (for fixing), white chalk.

Project 1: Drawing by torchlight – Torches, small toys/objects, charcoal, white chalk, buff sugar paper.

Project 2: Small cardboard boxes, charcoal, A2 sugar paper, scrap card/modelling materials, small toys/objects, tape, drawing materials as above.

Project 3: Charcoal Cave – Medium/large cardboard box, newsprint, charcoal (ideally both willow and compressed) rags, small toys or dollhouse furniture.

Project 1: Charcoal and Dance – A2 or A1 paper/wall paper, charcoal.


 

Pathway: Gestural Drawing with Charcoal

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

  • Aims of the Pathway

    This pathway aims to introduce children to the idea of making gestural drawing, exploring charcoal as a medium. How can we use our bodies to inform how we make marks?

  • Week 1: Explore Charcoal

    Introduction to Charcoal

    The pathway begins with an an introduction to charcoal as a drawing medium.

  • Introduce an Artist

    Introduction to Laura McKendry

    Laura McKendry

    Introduce children to the work of Laura McKendry who uses charcoal to make large gestural drawings of dogs, using the free to access “Talking Points: Laura McKendry” resource.  Use the questions on the resource to help guide a class conversation. 

  • Introduce an Artist

    Introduction to Edgar Degas

    Seated Dancer 1873–74 Edgar Degas

    Contrast the work of Laura (above) with the charcoal drawings of Degas using the free to access “Talking Points: Charcoal Drawings by Edgar Degas” resource.

    Use the questions on the resource to help guide conversation.

  • Week 2: Explore Charcoal

    Exploring Charcoal

    For Weeks 2 and 3, invite children to draw on large sheets of sugar paper and fix the work using fixative or hairspray. 

    Discovering Charcoal Warm-Up Exercise

    Next, children will begin to explore charcoal for themselves. Use the “Discovering Charcoal Warm-Up Exercise” resource to support their exploration. 

    Think about how they can experiment with mark making to create line, shape and tone. Explore the “Talking Points: What is Chiaroscuro” resource to  get pupils to think about light and dark. 

  • Push Further

    Drawing Large

    Large Charcoal Shell Fragment

    You may like to watch the “Drawing Large” resource video to understand how your drawings can become very gestural. If you use this resource think about how children can use charcoal to make big loose marks, and use rocks or fossils as their subject matter. 

  • Week 3: Personalise the Journey

    Drawing Like a Cave Person

    Hand Prints and Lines

    Remind children of the beginnings of drawing with “Talking Points: Cave Art“, and inspire simple mark making, through the medium of charcoal and handprint art.

    Be inspired by historic and contemporary images of cave art. Use the “Drawing Like a Caveman” resource to encourage children to explore how they can use charcoal and hands to explore mark making further. 

  • Week 4 & 5: Find your Focus

    Choose a Project

    Choose one of the projects below, depending on how you want to link to other curriculum areas, experience, space and preferred approach. 

  • Option 1

    Charcoal & Drama

    Explore how students can use charcoal to explore narrative and creating a sense of drama. Remind them of ‘chiaroscuro’ to deepen their exploration.

    Explore the following resources. You may choose to follow one resource, or combine more than one:

    Drawing by torchlight

    Drawing by Torchlight” resource…

    and/or

    Finished charcoal drawing

    Set Design with Primary Aged Children” resource… 

    and/or

    “Charcoal Cave” resource.


  • Or…

  • Option 2

    Charcoal & Dance

    Pupils will explore how they can use charcoal and gestural movements made by the body to explore charcoal, dance and performance. 

    Heather Hansen

    Introduce the work of Heather Hansen using the free to access “Talking Points: Heather Hansen” resource. 

    Dancing with Charcoal

    Follow with the free to access “Talking Points: Dancing with Charcoal” resource.

    If you feel the children need a warm-up, find out how dance can be used as a response to art with the “Talking Points: Dancing to Art

    Consider how you can enable the children to respond creatively in the space you have.

    You may want to run the project in the hall or large space, using cheap wallpaper lining paper taped together as your drawing surface. 

    If you don’t have space for the above, notice how in the last video on the Heather Hansen resource, the schools work on smaller sheets of paper in pairs or groups using hands and arms rather than whole body. 

    Whichever you choose, think about using digital media to record the event, or performing to an audience. Think about recording sound and using light to make it a multimedia performance.

  • Week 6: Present and Review

    Share, Reflect & Celebrate

    Making a Backwards Sketchbook

    Children can make a “Backwards Sketchbook” using the drawings made on loose sheets of paper. 

    Invite children to present all work in a clear space and take the opportunity to visit the work made like a mini gallery. Use the “Crits in the Classroom” resource. 

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

Year 3 Charcoal @MissAndersonRPS
Year 3 Charcoal @MissAndersonRPS
Year 3 Charcoal @MissAndersonRPS
Year 4, Pinewood American International School of Greece
Year 3 Littleport Primary School
Year 3 Littleport Primary School
Year 3 Littleport Primary School
Year 3 Littleport Primary School
Year 3, Peters Hill Primary
Year 3, Peters Hill Primary
Year 3, Peters Hill Primary
Year 3, Peters Hill Primary
Kerry Fulford @glitter_in_the_art_room at Radstone Primary School in Brackley
Year 3, Chalgrove CP School
Year 3, Chalgrove CP School
Trinity & St Michael’s CE, Croston, Year 3, teacher Mrs Tracey Drury
Year 2, Cooran State School, Queensland Australia
Year 2, Cooran State School, Queensland Australia
Year 2, Cooran State School, Queensland Australia
Year 2, Cooran State School, Queensland Australia

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
You might like to…

Join our Facebook Group

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Join the AccessArt Network group on Facebook and ask questions of others using our resources

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

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what is drawing?

Find out more about what drawing is & can be

Find out more about what drawing is & can be

Sketchbook Exercise: Drawing Brushes with Charcoal

Experiment with charcoal to create drawings of paintbrushes

Experiment with charcoal to create drawings of paintbrushes

Dressing Up As Fossils

Explore mark making on fabric

Explore mark making on fabric

Balancing observational and experimental drawing

Balance observational drawing skills with more experimental, explorative drawing

Balance observational drawing skills with more experimental, explorative drawing

movement map

Translate lines, marks & pattern into movement

Translate lines, marks & pattern into movement

the AccessArt Drawing Journey for children: pedagogy and understanding

Plan a dynamic and rewarding creative education in drawing for ALL children

Plan a dynamic and rewarding creative education in drawing for ALL children

charcoal as a medium

Explore all charcoal resources on AccessArt

Explore all charcoal resources on AccessArt

warm up exercises

Find a range of warm up activities to start your session with

Find a range of warm up activities to start your session with


A Visual Poetry Zine with Monotype

See the Resource Used in Schools…

Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield
Littleport Community Primary School Year 5 Making Monotypes - these were inspired by Sea Fever the poem by John Masefield

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Pathway: Making Monotypes

This is featured in the 'Making Monotypes' pathway

This is featured in the ‘Making Monotypes’ pathway

Talking points: What is a monotype?

Monotype Vimeo Screenshot

Talking Points: Kevork Mourad

Kevork Mourad: the making of Seeing Through Babel https://vimeo.com/347106795


Print Foam – Making Relief Prints: Incised & Additive

See This Resource Used In Schools…

Year 1, Combs Ford Primary School
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton
Ruth at Carden Primary School, Brighton

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Pathway: Simple Printmaking

Featured in the 'Simple Printmaking' pathway

Featured in the ‘Simple Printmaking’ pathway