Creative inspiration is everywhere. If it’s something we can see, touch or experience through our senses, it can become the starting point for creative exploration.

You might be more familiar with traditional sources of inspiration, such as paintings or sculpture, which can provide rich starting points for exploration. But creativity doesn’t always have to begin in a gallery. By broadening what we can be inspired by, we encourage pupils to move through the world with curiosity and notice the creative potential in everyday places, objects, people and experiences. This helps pupils see that opportunities for creative exploration and inspiration are all around them.

1. Understand where you we can find creative stimuli

Galleries are a great source of inspiration, but it’s important to remember that the artworks they hold didn’t begin there. Every artwork has its roots in something beyond the gallery, a lived experience, a story, a place, an object or a moment of curiosity. So when we look to galleries for inspiration, it’s important to understand that creative responses can come from everywhere.

Artists and artworks offer rich opportunities for creative exploration when we see them as the beginning of a journey, not the end point. Rather than asking pupils to copy what they see, we can use them to inspire curiosity, experimentation and original thinking. The resources below will help you discover where to find artists and how to explore their work in a way that enables exciting open-ended exploration.

Finding artists in your local community is a great place to start when building partnerships beyond the school. Local artists are likely to have shared experiences with your pupils, having a deeper connection to the place they all call home. Discover practical advice to help you find and choose local artists to work with in your school.

Exhibitions are a rich source of inspiration for creative exploration. Look out for exhibitions in your local area and, if you can, visit the gallery before bringing your pupils. It’s also worth getting in touch to see whether they have an education team who can help you plan your visit or provide additional support.

If you’d like to explore artworks as creative stimuli in the classroom, Finding Inspiration in Exhibitions will help you facilitate projects that spark inspiration and encourage pupils to develop their own creative responses.

2. Help pupils understand how they can engage with stimuli to make a creative response

Inspiration isn’t limited to galleries. It can be found in everyday objects, people’s stories, photographs, music, books and the natural world. It’s important to introduce pupils to a wide range of creative stimuli. The more varied their experiences, the broader their understanding of what can inspire creative responses.

Inspiration can come from all kinds of art forms, including music. In Mark-making and Sound, pupils respond to music through mark-making, capturing spirit and atmosphere and allowing the rhythm and flow of the music to influence their drawings.

Engaging with stories from the local community can be a powerful stimulus for creative exploration. It broadens pupils’ perspectives while building meaningful connections beyond the school. With Stories and Faces, pupils can create portraits celebrating their lives and stories of those in their community.

Books, stories and poems provide rich language and vivid imagery encouraging pupils to imagine, interpret and respond in their own unique ways. Explore Illustrating the Jabberwocky to see how text can evoke atmospheric drawings and visual storytelling.

Objects can be great starting points for creative exploration. From an apple to an ancient artefact, every object has a story to tell and looking closely at the objects around us with imagination can inspire new responses. In the 3-panel Drawing Challenge pupils make connections between everyday objects and use their imaginations to build a narrative around them.

See how play can lead to creative responses in Patterns with Nature. Gather found objects, arrange them in different ways and see what happens. When pupils know their work doesn’t have to be permanent, they’re often more willing to play and experiment.

When using an artwork as a creative stimulus, think of it as a starting point rather than an end point. In Splendour and Opulence Inspired by Klimt, pupils explore Klimt’s use of pattern and mark-making through collage, painting and printmaking. By offering a range of materials and the freedom to choose how they respond, pupils create personal, varied and individual outcomes.

Cultural and historical traditions are rich sources of inspiration and offer opportunities to make cross-curricular connections. When pupils are invited to respond creatively to events, traditions or experiences beyond their own, making a creative response can help make it feel more meaningful. See how pupils combine puppet making and performance to create a collaborative, memorable response.