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!

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?

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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. 

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Monotype Videos

Videos to demonstrate various monotype processes

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!

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?

  

  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:

  • Let Me Inspire You: Emma Burleigh

  • Exploring Through Watercolour

  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. 

  • Teachers Introduction to Watercolour

  • Practising Watercolour Skills

• Week 2: Look & Talk
  

  Explore the Work of Paul Klee & Emma Burleigh

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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. 

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drawing fish with pen, pencil and watercolour

Explore drawing and painting materials

globe paintings

Let the paint decide what it wants to do

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!

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

  

  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

  

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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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…

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Join our Facebook Group

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

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Make a Monogram

Create stamps using childrens initials

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!

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

  

  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. 

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  Take 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

  

  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

  

  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…

If You Use AccessArt Resources…
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Join our Facebook Group

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

You May Also Like…

Talking Points: Mark Hearld

Explore the work of printmaker, collager and ceramicist

Never-Ending Landscapes

Take inspiration from observational drawings to create fictional landscapes

Sculptural Environments inspired by Hockney

Create a class installation inspired by artist David Hockney

Talking Points: Saoirse Morgan

Explore the work of seascape painter Saoirse Morgan

Layers in the landscape

Create relief sculptures of the landscape

diary of a sculptural sketchbook

Sculpt the landscape out of the paper

Painting the storm

A weather-inspired exploration of watercolour and graphite

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!

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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  Explore 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

  Working 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

  If 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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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. 

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movement maps

Translate lines, marks and pattern into movement and memories

Painting the storm

Create a stormy painting to the sound of rainy weather

Sketchbooks & Performance

Create expressive drawings in response to performers and audiences

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!

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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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.

  

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

• Week 6: Present Work
  

  Share, Reflect, Celebrate

  

  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.

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A School full of characters

Explore capturing facial expressions through cartoon sketches

Chimera Drawings

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

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!

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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

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Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

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Make insect sculptures

Create shiny insect sculptures

Drawing with tape

Create a forest on a classroom wall

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!

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?

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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?

  

  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. 

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

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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

Houses from Around the World

Drawing and Collaging

My House

A Cardboard Construction Project

Ink & Foamboard Architecture

Exploring Colour and Form

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!

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

  

  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

  

  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. 

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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” resource…

  and/or

  

  “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. 

  

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

  

  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

  

  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…

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

Share and Tag

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

Sketchbook Exercise: Drawing Brushes with Charcoal

Experiment with charcoal to create drawings of paintbrushes

Dressing Up As Fossils

Explore mark making on fabric

Balancing observational and experimental drawing

Balance observational drawing skills with more experimental, explorative drawing

movement map

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

charcoal as a medium

Explore all charcoal resources on AccessArt

warm up exercises

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

See the Resource Used in Schools…

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Pathway: Making Monotypes

This is featured in the ‘Making Monotypes’ pathway

Talking points: What is a monotype?

Talking Points: Kevork Mourad

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Simple Printmaking

Featured in the ‘Simple Printmaking’ pathway

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines: Drawing, Collage, Design

Key Concepts:

• That the act of making drawings can be mindful.

• That we can use line, shape and colour to create patterns.

• That we can use folding, cutting and collage to help us create pattern.

• That we can create repeated patterns to apply to a range of products or outcomes.

In this pathway, children have the opportunity to explore pattern and develop a range of technical skills and knowledge through drawing and collage.

The pathway also introduces them to the idea that working with pattern can be a mindful activity, and that as humans we respond to patterns made by other people.

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

Medium:
Paper, Pens, Paint

Artists: 
Rachel Parker, Shaheen Ahmed, Andy Gilmore, Louise Despont

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

History: Focus on patterns from your chosen ancient civilisation.

Maths: Measuring, symmetry, tessellation/repeated patterns, orientation.

Science: Look at patterns in the structure of fruits or plants, reflections and shadows.

Music: Use music and sound when doing mindful drawing as part of this pathway.

I Can…

• I can relax into making a sensory drawing using a pencil, making marks on the page without having a predefined outcome. 

• I have explored the work of an artist who creates artwork inspired by pattern. I have thought about where we use pattern in our life to make our worlds brighter.

• I can work in my sketchbooks to explore how I can make drawings inspired by “rules.” I can generate lots of different types of patterns.

• I can make a tessellated design and think about colour and shape, exploring positive and negative shapes.

or

• I can explore the work of a surface pattern designer and make my own repeating pattern, exploring colour, shape and composition. 

or

• I can fold paper and use pattern to make an object which other people can respond to.

• I can present and share my work. I can reflect and share my thoughts with others. I can listen to the reflections of my classmates and feedback on their work. 

• I can take photographs of my 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 pen, A2 cartridge paper, rulers, tape, string, coloured paper & card.

Option 1: Making Tessellated Designs – Thin cardboard or stiff paper, pencils, handwriting pens, felt tip pens, scissors, masking tape.

Option 2: Creating Repeated Patterns – Collage papers, A3 cartridge paper, ruler, masking tape, PVA glue, scissors, scanner for digital rendering (optional).

Option 3: Puzzle Purse – 21X21cm squares of card, soft pencils, handwriting pens, felt tip pens, ruler.

Pathway: Exploring Pattern

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to enable a mindful approach to working with pattern. Pupils explore how artists and designers use pattern in their own work, and then go on to explore ways in which they can create pattern in a playful way. 

• Week 1: Slow Down & Tune In
  

  Making a Sensory Drawing

  

  The aim of the first session is to enable children to quieten and slow down into the process.

  Use the “Making a Sensory Drawing” resource as a warm-up, enabling children to make sensory patterns without a theme or subject focus. The emphasis should be on the process not outcome. 

  The repetitive nature of the exercise will allow the children to not worry about outcome, but will encourage them to make decisions as they go along. Use needles and sharp pencils with a variation of width to create a rhythmic piece.

  Work on thicker paper (cartridge or sugar paper is ideal). Work on sheets small enough to be stuck into sketchbooks at a later point. 

  Spend half an hour on this.

• Look and Talk…
  

  Shaheen Ahmed

  

  Explore the free to access “Talking Points: Shaheen Ahmed” resource to discover an artist who explores patterns, signs and motifs that hold significance to her identity. Use the questions at the bottom of the resource to help guide your class conversation.

• Week 2: Inventing & Exploring
  

  Rules and Resolutions

  

  Use the “Rules and Resolutions” resource to enable children to explore the idea that they can devise their own process criteria to help them make drawings. 

  Work in sketchbooks and encourage children to collaborate and discuss aims and outcomes. 

• Week 3, 4 & 5: Find your focus
  

  Explore Tessellations, Surface Pattern or Puzzle Purses

  For the next three weeks work on one of the projects below. Intersperse the projects by looking at the work of the artists below to help inspire your journey. 

• Option One
  

  Making a Tessellated Design

  

  Explore working in colour and making patterns which fit together over and over again by using the “Making Tessellated Designs” resource. 

  This activity links really well with maths. Begin by asking them to invent a shape. Push them further by asking them to look at an object and try to create a shape inspired by it.

  Use the project to explore colour. What happens when they make a tessellated design using complimentary colours? How many colours do they need? How does the design change if they use cold colours, or warm colours? 

  Use sketchbooks to test colours and refine tessellation design, and then make final outcomes on larger sheets of cartridge or sugar paper. 

• Explore an Artist
  

  Explore Andy Gilmore

  

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Andy Gilmore” resource to explore the work of an artist inspired by repeated shape and pattern. See where Andy finds inspiration. Remember, pupils are not aiming to reproduce Andy’s work – just introduce the artist to the children and build their creative thinking, visual literacy and oracy skills through conversation. 

• 
  

  Or…

• Option Two
  

  Explore Surface Design with Rachel Parker

  

  Explore the work of surface pattern designer Rachel Parker.

• 
  

  Make A Repeat Pattern

  

  Use the “Creating Repeated Patterns” resource to enable pupils to think about colours and shapes, and the relationship between these components to create an overall balanced pattern. Using collage allows them to make these creative decisions as they work.

  Get children to think about where they find patterns, what are they used for? Make it known that children can grow up to make patterns for a living if they enjoy the process.

  Have their sketchbook open and ask them to make notes about their decision making, with swatches and thoughts as they go along.

  For the second part of this session children will get the opportunity to scan their pattern into the computer and create a repeat pattern using a Word Document or an equivalent editing software.  

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 3
  

  Making a Puzzle Purse

  

  Use the “Making a Puzzle Purse Part One” resource to show children how to make an origami puzzle purse.

• Explore an Artist
  

  Louise Despont

  

  Explore the work of an artist who makes meditative drawings through pattern with the free to access “Talking Points: Louise Despont“. Use the conversation to highlight to children how the act and outcome of drawing can help with feeling calm and in the moment. 

• 
  

  Making a Puzzle Purse Part Two

  

  Adapt the “Making a Puzzle Purse Part Two” resource, focusing on pattern rather than narrative. Explore colour, line, and shape to create patterns within the puzzle purse. Use the folded geometric structure to help inspire pattern making. 

• Week 6: Reflect & Discuss
  

  Present, Talk, Share and Celebrate

  

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

  Invite children to display the work in a way that best suits the project, have open sketchbooks. Use the “Crit in the Classroom” resource to help you. 

  Have children use tablets or cameras to take photographs of the work. 

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

See This Pathway Used in Schools…

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

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

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Making Ruler Drawings

Use a straight edge to explore how you can find freedom by applying simple rules to your drawing

Explore Paper weaving

Explore different methods for paper weaving

Making Stronger Drawings

If children in your class struggle with making confident drawings try this warm-up/intervention exercise

Pattern and Collage

More tips and ideas in this whole school project

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Design: Typography, Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

• That when designers work with fonts and layout it is called Typography.

• That we can use the way words look to help us communicate ideas and emotions.

• That we can create our own typography and combine it with other visual elements to make artwork about chosen themes. 

In this pathway children are introduced to typography design and they explore how they can create their own fonts and designs. Children explore how we can use visual letters and other elements to help convey ideas and emotions.

They are introduced to the work of an artist and a designer who have both used lettering combined with maps to produce maps which tell stories. Children then go on to create their own visual and often three dimensional maps. 

Themes:
Identity, Environment, Habitat

Medium:
Pencil, Pen, Paper

Artists: Louise Fili, Grayson Perry, Paula Scher, Chris Kenny

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Please find the CPD session recording of the Typography and Maps pathway here.

Curriculum Links

Geography: Trade links, digital mapping, ordinance survey maps, detailed sketching of maps.

History: Create maps inspired by your chosen ancient civilisation topic e.g. an Anglo Saxon settlement or village.

Maths: Pictorial representations, 2D / 3D shapes.

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion.

English: Leaflets, posters

I Can…

• I have understood that Typography is the visual art of creating and arranging letters and words on a page to to help communicate ideas or emotions. 

• I have seen how other artists work with typography and have been able to share my thoughts on their work.

• I have explored how I can create my own letters in a playful way using cutting and collage. I can reflect upon what I like about the letters I have made.

• I have drawn my own letters using pen and pencil inspired by objects I have chosen around me. I can reflect upon why my letters have a meaning to me. 

• I have used my sketchbooks for referencing, collecting and testing ideas, and reflecting. 

• I can make my drawings appear visually stronger by working over maps or newspaper to make my marks stronger.

• I have seen how some artists use their typography skills and drawing skills to make maps which are personal to them. I have been able to reflect upon what I think their maps mean, what I like about them, and what interests me.

• I can use my mark making, cutting and collage skills to create my own visual map, using symbols, drawn elements and typography to express themes which are important to me.

• I have shared my work with the class, reflected upon what was successful and been able to give useful feedback on 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, 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: Typography and Maps

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to give pupils the opportunity to explore the work of designers who work with font and typography. Pupils go on to create their own typography and develop their skills further in a visual map project. 

• Week 1: Introduce Typography
  

  What is Typography?

  

  Visit the free to access “Talking Points: What is Typography” resource. Enable children to understand how typography can be used creatively to express thoughts and communicate ideas visually. Make some “Visual Notes” in sketchbooks.

• Introduce an Artist
  

  Louise Fili

  

  Explore the work of Louise Fili who is a pioneer in establishing herself as a woman working in Typography. Use the free to access “Talking Points: Louise Fili” resource to see how she and her team created a poster for the New York Subway. 

• Play & Experiment
  

  Play with Cut Out Typography

  Invite the children to create their own letters in a playful way to discover arrangements they like. Use the “Cut Out Typography” resource.

  Stick the outcomes in your sketchbook. Think about what you like about the letters you create, and what you might like to develop further.

  

• Week 2: Continue Exploring
  

  Create Your Own Typography

  Create your own letters of a typeface in an intuitive and fun way in the “Create Your Own Typography” resource.

  Work on large sheets or in your sketchbooks. Explore as many variations of letters as you can. 

  If you have time, develop a whole word or even phrase, but pay just as much attention to each letter. 

  

  Pupils will be drawing on previous knowledge and skills in creating varied mark-making. For a recap on mark-making explore “Finding Marks Made by Artists“.

• Week 3: Developing Stronger Drawings
  

  Explore Making Powerful Visual Imagery

  Sometimes we need help to make our drawings visually powerful. 

  Use the “Making Stronger Drawings” resource to help you develop strong mark-making skills. 

  If you don’t have maps to work on you can do the same exercise working on newspaper or other paper which is pre-printed. 

  

• Week 4 & 5: Creating a Visual Map
  

  Messages in Maps

  The next stage of the project is to apply your new typography skills and your powerful drawing skills to make a visual map. 

• See How Artists Create Maps
  

  Grayson Perry & Paula Scher & Chris Kenny (and the Marauder’s Map)

  Maps don’t just have to tell us where to go. They can also be very personal places which reveal things about the artist that made them, or they can be comments about culture, place and time. They can also be a place where messaging is concealed and revealed. They can be based upon reality or imagination, or both.

  

  Introduce children to a selection of artists who use maps in their work to express identity. Create “Visual Notes” in sketchbooks inspired by your choice of artists.

  Choose from the following of free to access Talking Points:

  • “Talking Points: Grayson Perry ‘Map of Days’” Please Note: Please be advised that at 1.51 of the video via this link there is inappropriate language shown on the map. You may wish to show up to this point or to skip past the shot of the language in question.

  • “Talking Points: Paula Scher”

  • “Talking Points: Chris Kenny“

  Or explore the design and typography used in the visual Marauder’s Map using the “Talking Points: Hogwarts’ Maps” resource.

• Make
  

  Begin Making a 3D Visual Map

  Using ideas developed from the Typography activity in Week 2, follow the “3D Visual Maps” resource to understand how we build on the idea of creating visual text, and how this can be applied to map making.

  

• Develop
  

  Annotate Your 3D Visual Maps

  Ask the children to use explorations of identity to annotate their 3D Visual Maps with typography, references, thoughts, ideas and associations. They can do this both in 2D and 3D, using cut out paper. See “Manipulating Paper from 2d-3d” for inspiration.

  Questions to ask:

  Where am I in my map? Why have I chosen to place myself here and what is around me?

  What words do I associate with home and where I live?

  What things or places am I surrounded by and why is this important to me?

  

• Week 6: Reflect and Discuss
  

  Share and Celebrate the Outcomes

  Lay the maps out on the floor if possible. You could even use the playground or school hall if the weather/space allocation permits.

  Ask the children to walk around each other’s work. Take time to absorb and discuss.

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

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

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

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

inspired by google earth

Use images from Google Earth as inspiration for drawings

making illustrated letters

Personalise letters according to interests

inspired by google earth: Making

Use images from Google Earth as inspiration for a sculpture

Making Maps Magical with Thermochromic Paint

Explore thermochromic paints, making maps which reacted to the heat of hands

Pathway for Years 1 & 2

Disciplines:
Printmaking (Mono Print), Drawing, Collage

Key Concepts:

• When we make mono prints we use mark making to create one off prints.

• When we make mono prints we create an impression of a drawing.

• That we can generate playful narratives and inventions through drawing.

• That we understand that using a range of marks will generate different effects when creating mono prints.

• That we can create creative responses to different stimuli and make the work our own.

Building on the exploration of drawing in Autumn term 1, this pathway starts with two explorations of drawing – one drawing from photographs or film, and two drawing from small, closely observed objects.

In both sessions pupils develop drawing and mark making skills.

Children are then introduced to mono print. They explore the work of an artist who uses mono print in his own work, and are introduced to a simple mono print technique.

Classes then have a choice of projects to develop mono printing and drawing skills, depending upon their preferred area of subject focus.

This pathways encourages children to take creative risks and use drawing as a way to playfully invent and create narratives.

Themes: Natural and Manmade Forms, Invention, Narrative

Medium: Graphite pencils, Oil Pastels, Carbon Paper 

Artists: Xgaoc’o X’are, Leonardo Di Vinci

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

See the recording of the hour long zoom CPD to introduce teachers to this pathway.

Curriculum Links

English: Link to English by asking children to draw upon their own experience for narratives.

Geography: Adapt to explore habitats, continents. 

Maths: Use language to develop understanding of symmetry (peeling back monoprints). 

Science: Animals, trees, materials. 

PSHE: Peer discussion. Collaboration.

Be aware that you leave the making open enough for the children to explore fully and freely (not constrained by working too closely to a theme).

I Can…

• I can make drawings using photos from films as my source material.

• I can look closely guided by my teachers voice, and work in my sketchbook or on paper to make drawings using soft pencil or handwriting pen. 

• I can look closely at small objects close to me and make drawings with soft pencil or handwriting pen at the same scale or size. 

• I can think carefully about which marks I will include in my drawing.

• I can share my sketchbook work with the class and talk about what I like about my work. I can listen to others talking about their work, and sometimes I can add my thoughts. 

• I have seen what a mono print is and have explored the work of an artist who uses mono print. I can share my thoughts on the artists work. 

• I can use carbon paper to make mono prints.  I can experiment with the kinds of marks I make, and think about how they help make my drawings interesting.

• I can base my drawings upon careful observational looking. I can slow down my looking and mark making and work for 5 to 15 minutes on a drawing. 

• I can explore a theme and make mono prints using my imagination to make my drawings personal.

• I can share my work and talk about what I like, and what I would like to try again.

• I can enjoy looking at the work of my classmates and sometimes I can share my thoughts about their work. 

• I have understood that through art, I can invent and discover.

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 pencils, oil pastels/wax crayons, handwriting pens, carbon paper, A3 cartridge paper, tracing paper.

Pathway: Exploring the World through Mono Print

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to encourage children to explore the world around them through monoprint. How can we use line, mark, shape and colour to make imagery informed by our own perception of the world?

• Week 1: Explore
  

  Draw from Stills & Film

  

  Children will spend the first week making drawings in their sketchbooks. Use the free to access “Drawing Source Material: Natural World” resource to inspire their drawings.

  Use the “Show Me What You See” resource to help guide the children’s drawing. 

• Week 2: Drawing from Observation
  

  Drawing Small

  

  Use the “Drawing Small” resource to help children become aware of the relationship of drawing, looking and mark making. 

  Pupils will work in sketchbooks or on larger sheets of loose paper.

  If you want further challenges, invite children to draw with their non dominant hand, create a blind drawing, a backwards forwards drawing and also a continuous line drawing.

  By the end of week two sketchbooks should be full of a variety of images – from drawings of the natural world capturing movement and energy made in week one, to collections of small, still,  found objects made in week two. 

• Recap
  

  Reflect and Discuss

  

  End week two with a short class or small group discussion about the sketchbook work. Encourage children to remember what they did and discuss whether pupils prefer drawings from week one or week two. 

• Week 3: Introducing Mono Prints
  

  What is a Mono Printing?

  Introduce pupils to the technique of mono printing with ink. Watch this video on “trace monotype” and find out how you can facilitate a lesson on printmaking.

  NOTE: In this pathway you will be using a slightly different method which is cleaner and easier!

• Introduce an Artist
  

  Explore the Work of Xgaoc’o X’are

  

  Explore the work of Botswanan Printmaker Xgaoc’o X’are using the free to access “Talking Points: Xgaoc’o X’are” resource. Use the questions on that resource to discuss his work.

• Experiment
  

  Mono Printing With Carbon Paper

  

  Use the “Mono Printing with Carbon Copy Paper” resource to start the print making journey.

  This activity encourages children to look carefully at their subject matter and make thoughtful marks in response. The addition of oil pastel enables children to experiment with colour and shape as well as line.

  Children can either draw from the same objects that they drew in week two, or new objects. The aim of the session is for pupils to explore and see what they can do with this technique – the journey is more important than any final outcome. Pupils will work in sketchbooks or on sheets of paper. 

• Week 4 & 5: Find Your Focus
  

  Choose a Theme

  

  Choose from one of the projects below, or adapt a similar approach to your own area of focus/curriculum theme. 

  All the resources below share the common aim of enabling children to explore printmaking with a focus on mono print. Whatever the focus or theme you attach make sure you give pupils plenty of freedom to play and invent.

  Give children plenty of time and space to explore, take creative risks, discover and share, without working towards a predefined outcome. Encourage and celebrate individuality.

  Have sketchbooks open on tables and encourage children to make notes (whatever form they take), and record and reflect.

• Option 1
  

  Mono Printing Session with ‘Change, Grow, Live’

  

  If you’d like to continue the theme of animals/natural habitat/natural world, then use the “Mono Printing Session with Change, Grow, Live” resource to make prints inspired by animals. (Pls note: the resource describes using carbon copy paper to print and also using ink and rollers to print. In this case use carbon copy paper). 

  Xgaoc’o X’are’s prints are inspired by the cave drawings made by his ancestors. It could be interesting to get children to think about a narrative involved in the animals that they choose to draw. For example an animal that they think represents them.

  Invite children to bring in animal toys or find images of animals with significance to them.

• Option 2
  

  Inventions Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci

  

  If you would like to continue working with small objects and link to curriculum areas such as materials, then you might like to use the “Drawings of Inventions Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci” resource. 

• Week 6: Display & Reflect
  

  Present, Talk, Share and Celebrate

  If children worked on separate sheets of paper throughout the project, consider if they would like to make a “Backwards Sketchbook” from the experimental loose prints and drawings made throughout the half term.

  Invite children to display the work in a clear space, and walk around the work as if they are in a gallery. Open out sketchbooks. 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…

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

Share and Tag

Share photos of work made by tagging us on social media

You May Also Like…

Painting & printing the savannah

Give children the opportuntity to mono print, paint and collage

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Printmaking (Stencil/Screen Print), Collage

Key Concepts:

• That we can be inspired by key artworks and make our own work in creative response. 

• That we can use shape and colour as a way to simplify elements of the world.

• That shapes have both a positive and negative element.

• That we can arrange shapes to create exciting compositions.

• That we can build up imagery through layering shapes.

• That we can use collage to inspire prints.

In this pathway children use close looking and the “Show Me What You See” technique to explore artwork from a particular artist, movement or era. Children then explore how they can use shape and colour to simplify elements, inspired by the Cut-outs of Henri Matisse. 

Using first collage, then simple printmaking methods, pupils play with positive and negative shapes and spaces to create meaningful compositions in response to the original artworks they looked at. 

Medium:
Paper, Printmaking Ink,  Stencils & Crayons

Artist: Henri Matisse, Claire Willberg

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!

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Find the Zoom CPD session introducing this pathway here.

See the recording of the Zoom CPD session exploring Screen Printing in the classroom.

Curriculum Links

History: Choose a painting as inspiration which typifies a particular historical period, for example, a painting from  Ancient Egyptian. 

Maths: 2D/3D shapes, pattern. 

PSHE: Peer discussion.

I Can…

• I can explore an artwork through looking, talking and drawing.

• I can use the “Show Me What You See” technique to help me look closely, working in my sketchbook making drawings and notes using pencils and pens.

• I can cut shapes directly into paper, using scissors, inspired by the artwork.

• I can collage with my cut elements, choosing colour, shape and composition to make my own creative response to the artwork.

• I can add to my collage, using line, colour and shape made by stencils. 

• I can explore negative and positive shapes.

• I can take photographs of my work.

• I can share my work with my class. I can reflect and share what I like, and what I would like to try again. I can look at the work of my classmates and give useful feedback through class or small group discussion. 

Time

This pathway takes 6 weeks, with an hour per week. Follow the stages in green for a shorter pathway or less complex journey.

Materials

Soft B pencils, coloured pencils, oil/chalk pastels, A3 or A2 sugar or cartridge paper, collage papers, PVA glue, scissors.

Option 1: Monoprinting with Carbon Paper – Carbon paper, sharp pencil or pen, oil pastels.

Option 2: Explore Stencils – Card, oil pastels, scissors.

Option 3: Screenprinting mesh, water-based printing ink, tray, acrylic printing medium, scrap card for squeegee, embroidery hoop (optional), newsprint.

Pathway: Working with Shape & Colour

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

  This pathway aims to enable pupils to respond to a painting from another culture or era, using visual literacy skills to come to their own understanding of the artwork. 

  Children then go on to make their own creative response to the original painting, using layering of shape, colour and line using printmaking and drawing. 

• Week 1: What’s Your Focus?
  

  Choose an Artwork to Focus Your Exploration

  Choose a painting or artwork which you would like to explore. 

  This might be a painting in a local museum or gallery, a painting available online, or a painting from another era or culture which ties in with a curriculum area.

  Here are some free to access ideas:

  • Focus upon the Bayeux Tapestry

  • Focus upon Egyptian Painting

  • Focus upon an art work from Google Arts & Culture

  

• Use Close Looking & Drawing to Explore
  

  Show Me What You See

  Working in sketchbooks, use the “Show Me What You See” technique to help pupil’s visually explore your chosen artwork.

  You can find a detailed explanation of the “Show Me What You See” resource here. 

  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 paintings.

• Week 2: Look and Talk
  

  Painting With Scissors

  Visit the free to access “Talking Points: Henry Matisse Cut Outs” resource to introduce pupils to the idea of “painting with scissors”.

  Use the free to access “Talking Points: Romare Bearden” resource to introduce pupils to the work of African American artist Romare Bearden who was influenced by patchwork quilts derived from African-American slave crafts and the work of Matisse. Bearden illustrated Homer’s Odyssey using collage.

  

  Refer to the “Drawing With Scissors” resource to see how to explore a historic (or contemporary) painting through printing. (Using just the part of the resource about collaging with cut elements).

• “Paint with Scissors”
  

  Begin to Cut Shapes

  

  With the original artwork on the white board and sketchbook work from Show Me What You See, provide pupils with coloured paper (sugar or coloured paper, or even old paintings which can be cut up) and invite them to start cutting out shapes made in response to the original artwork. You may want to refer back to “Drawing With Scissors“ resource. 

  You might like to split the class into groups – each taking a section of the original artwork, or you might like to give pupils more space to choose elements they particularly like. 

  Don’t waste any paper – at the end of the session encourage pupils to keep the paper which has been cut away (you can sort it into sizes) as well as the positive “shapes”. 

  “Envelopes” can be made/stuck in sketchbooks to keep paper elements safe until next week. 

  You might like to see the “Positive and Negative Shapes” resource (to be done). 

  Continue this work into week three.

• Week 3: Continue “Painting with Scissors”
  

  Collaging with Cut Elements

  

  Continue the process described in the “Drawing with Scissors” resource. Invite pupils to begin to lay down their cut elements to make collaged compositions, working on A3 or larger paper.

  Encourage children to explore playfully before they decide where to stick shapes down on the page. Think about composition and meaning. Remember they are not trying to recreate the original artwork, instead they are making a creative response (which is personal) to the artwork.

  Remind pupils they can use the pieces of paper which have had shapes cut out of them, and so introduce negative shapes into their work.

  Continue into week four.

• Continue with Collage
  

  Finalise Collages

  

  Continue the process described in the “Drawing with Scissors” resource.

  Finalise first stage of collages ready for second part of the project. By this point all cut elements should be stuck down onto each pupil’s piece of paper.

• Week 4 & 5: Add Further Detail
  

  Stencils, Masks or Line

  

  Continue the process described in the “Drawing with Scissors” resource.

  The final stage of the project is to add further detail to the artwork by working over the collaged elements. 

  You can choose which method you want children to use from the 3 options below. Choose the option you think will best help pupils respond to the original artwork.

  The aim of this final stage is to add further definition or clarity to the collaged composition, using a different medium to make the artwork feel more dimensional (collage can be quite a “flat” medium).

• Option 1
  

  Printed Line

  

  Revisit the original artwork and get pupils to look closely at the qualities of line the artists used.

  Use the “Mono Printing with Carbon Paper” resource and use carbon paper to add line drawings over the top of the collaged sheets.

  Remember the drawings do not have to line up with the exiting imagery. Layering imagery of different types will give exciting results.

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 2
  

  Explore Stencils

  

  Use the “Explore Stencils, Composition and Expressive Mark Making with Oil Pastels” resource and invite children to create masks and stencils out of card, thinking about negative and positive shapes. Use the masks and stencils over the original collaged artwork, using oil pastel as a medium.

  Encourage the children to use a range of mark making and experiment with colour blending so that they get an understanding of the qualities of oil pastels.

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 3
  

  Simple Screen Printing Hack

  

  If you are feeling more confident, you may want to give pupils the opportunity to explore simple screen printing as an alternative way to explore masks and stencils. See our “Talking Points: Screenprint“

  Give children the opportunity to try out screen printing with this “Simple Screen Print Hack“. Watch all 3 videos before starting.

  Ask children to prepare their stencils and masks prior to printing. Remember that they will need stencils and masks of every element including clothing, face detail or any big shapes within the background. 

  As with Option 1 and 2, be inventive about the shapes which are overlaid over the collaged elements – remember the shapes do not have to line up with the collaged composition – exciting and surprising outcomes can be achieved by creating new shapes and lines over the first collage. 

• Week 6: Reflect & Discuss
  

  Share, Reflect, Discuss

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

  

  Invite pupils 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 handwork.

  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. 

• Extension
  

  Extension: Animating With Used Masks, Stencils, Or Left Over Shapes

  

  Claire Willberg repurposes the paper that she uses in her printing process to create visually exciting animations. See her animations in “Talking Points: Claire Willberg“.

  Get your children to keep their stencils and masks once they’ve been used and make a stop motion.

  See the “Animation Software” resource for support. 

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