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

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.

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. 

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. 

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.