Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Architecture, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Medium:
Foamboard, Ink, Card

Artists: Shoreditch Sketcher, Various Architects

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

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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

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

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

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

I Can…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time

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

Materials

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

Pathway: Architecture – Dream Big & Small

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• The Aim of the Pathway

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

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  Dream Big or Small?

  

  Introduce pupils to the point for discussion and design:

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

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

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

  

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

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

• Week 2: Draw
  

  Drawing Houses

  

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

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

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

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

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

  Continuous Line Drawing

  Drawing with a Ruler

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

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

• Week 3, 4, 5
  

  Make your Architectural Model

  

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

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

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

  Tips:

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

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

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

  Buying foamboard (coming soon)

• Week 6
  

  Share, Reflect, Discuss

  

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

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Anglo Saxon Architecture

Making Architecture Inspired by Anglo Saxon Architecture

My House

A Cardboard Construction Project

Houses from Around the World

Drawing and Collaging

Pathway for Years 5 & 6

Disciplines:
Set Design, Making, Drawing, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

Curriculum Links

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

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

Science: Light, shadow.

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

PSHE: Collaboration, Peer Discussion.

I Can…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time

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

Materials

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

Pathway: Set Design

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aims of the Pathway

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

• Find Your Focus
  

  Choose Theatre Design or Design for Animation

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

• Set Design for Theatre

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

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  Set Design for Theatre

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

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

• Week 2, 3, 4 & 5: Create
  

  Set Design for Theatre

  

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

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

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

  ---

• 
  

  Or…

• Set Design for Animation

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

• Week 1: Introduce
  

  Set Design for Animation

  

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

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

• Weeks 2, 3, 4 & 5: Introduce
  

  A Textiles Set

  

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

• Create
  

  Rosie Hurley

  

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

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

  

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

• Extension
  

  Animate!

  Coming Soon

• Week 6: Reflect and Discuss
  

  Present, Talk, Celebrate

  

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

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

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

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

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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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…

Drawing Exercise Responding to text

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

model making responding to text

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

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Painting, Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks, Relief

Key Concepts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

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

Curriculum Links

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

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

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

I Can…

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

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

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

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

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

Time

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

Materials

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

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

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

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

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

Pathway: Exploring Still Life

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aim of the Pathway

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

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

• Week 1: Introduce an artist
  

  Introduce the artist Paul Cezanne

  

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

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

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

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

• Work in sketchbooks
  

  Choose One of the Drawing Exercises Below

  

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

  

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

• Week 2: Explore Further
  

  Explore the Work of Contemporary and Traditional Still Life Artists

  

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

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

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

• Weeks 3, 4 & 5: Find Your Focus
  

  Choose a Project

  Choose between an exploration of:

  • Painting and collage

  • Photography,  composition and painting

  • Clay, texture and painting

  • Still life sculpture

• Option 1: Paint and Collage
  

  Cut Paper Collage Still Life

  

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

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 2: Photography, Composition and Painting
  

  Still Life Inspired by Cezanne

  

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

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 3: Clay, Texture, Paint
  

  Clay Fruit Tiles

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

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

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 4: Still Life Sculpture
  

  Graphic Inky Still Life

  

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

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

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

• Intervention
  

  Learning to see

  

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

• Week 6: Present and Celebrate
  

  Share, Reflect, Discuss

  

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

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

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

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

See the Pathway Used in Schools…

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…

Thoughtful Mark making

Develop mark making vocab and decision making skills

Using pastel to capture texture

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

Blind Contour Drawing

Match the speed of drawing with the speed of looking

Drawing Vegetables

Explore a variety of media through drawing vegetables

Japanese sushi inspires our art

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

still life acrylic paintings

Make acrylic paintings on canvases

Pathway for Years 3 & 4

Disciplines:
Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Collage, Sketchbooks

Key Concepts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Artists: Claes Oldenberg, Lucia Hierro, Nicole Dyer

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

Teaching Notes

Find the MTP for this pathway here.

See the recording of the Zoom CPD session Exploring Modroc.

Curriculum Links

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

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

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

I Can…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time

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

Materials

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

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

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

Pathway: Festival Feasts

A PDF of this pathway can be found here.

• Aim of the Pathway

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

• Week 1 & 2: Be Inspired
  

  Explore & Draw

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

• Introduce
  

  Claes Oldenburg

  

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

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

• Introduce
  

  Lucia Hierro

  

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

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

• Introduce
  

  Rowan Briggs Smith

  

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

   

• Work in Sketchbooks
  

  Show Me What You See

  

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

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

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

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

  

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

• Week 3, 4: Find your Focus
  

  Explore Painting or Sculpture

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

• Option 1
  

  Paint Your Corner Shop

  

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

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

• 
  

  Or…

• Option 2
  

  Feast from Modroc

  

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

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

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

• Week 5: Collaborate
  

  Communal Picnic Drawing

  

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

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

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

• Week 6: Share and discuss
  

  Share, Reflect, Celebrate

  

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

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

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

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

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

See This Pathway Used In Schools

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You might like to…

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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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Art Club Cafe

Making sculptural food in an after school club setting

Sushi Drawing

Drawing inspired by Japanese Sushi

Sushi Making

Making Sushi with recycled materials

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

Talking Points: Kittie Jones

Talking Points: Vanessa Gardiner

Talking Points: The Shoreditch Sketcher

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of landscape painter Kittie Jones.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Kittie Jones

Kittie Jones is a fine artist based in Edinburgh. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University in 2008; she currently works from her studio at Coburg House Art Studios in Leith and regularly exhibits around the UK.

“My work is concerned with the experience of time spent looking and interpreting the natural world. I am drawn to places which have an abundance of nature – sea bird colonies, fertile coastlines and remote islands. On drawing trips I will settle in a promising spot and start to develop work from there. The energy in the work comes from the constantly changing elements of the natural world – birds moving in and out of vision and the shifting quality of weather and light. “ – Kittie Jones

Find a fantastic insight into Kittie’s creative process here on AccessArt.

Questions to Ask Children

What kind of atmosphere does Kittie capture in her work?

How does mark making add to the painting?

How do the paintings make you feel?

What other inputs do you think Kittie gets from painting outdoors? How do you think these impact her work?

Would you like to experience sitting and painting in the outdoors?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of landscape painter Vanessa Gardiner.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Vanessa Gardiner

“As a landscape painter I am captivated both by the beauty of the places on which my work is based and by the processes involved during the making of the pictures. In a sense, for me, they go hand-in-hand: the immediacy of drawing directly from the seemingly haphazard natural subject matter, with the careful selection and ordering of the compositions back in the studio.” – Vanessa Gardiner

Questions to Ask Children

Do you like Gardiner’s linear approach to landscape painting?

What does the texture add to the painting?

Does this make you think about landscapes differently?

How do the paintings make you feel?

What kind of atmosphere(s) does Gardiner capture in the painting(s)?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Mixed Media Land and city scapes

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

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Drawing source material: nests

See This Resoucre Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Explore parallels between behaviour of birds and ourselves

Drawing source material: nests

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

See This Resource Used In Schools…

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Pathway: Sculpture, Structure, Inventiveness & determination

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

Talking Points: What can we learn from birds

Drawing source material: nests

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. 

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…

Monotype Videos

Videos to demonstrate various monotype processes

An animation set design challenge.

Animation Set Design Challenge

Use this challenge to design and make a model “set” for an animation.

1. Explore the Rosie Hurley: Esio Trot resource to see how artist Rosie uses her sketchbook to help her design and make a set for an animation project.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

2. Decide upon your creative stimulus.

Your set will be inspired by a particular poem, story, short film or piece of music. Make sure you are familiar with the stimulus by watching / listening to it many times. Talk about it with your class so you can start to understand characters/mood/settings/narrative.

3. Use your Sketchbook

Use your sketchbook, just as Rosie does, to help you understand the stimulus. If the stimulus is visual, like a film, then pause the film and make drawings of scenes which you feel are important.

If the stimulus is aural, listen and use your imagination to make sketchbook drawings.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

4. Think about Structure

Start to think about what scene or set you will create. It can change as you work, but try to have a starting point. Think about:

• Is it indoors or outdoors?

• Is it on one level?

• What would the audiences’ viewpoint be?

• Does it have spaces within it?

• Will it have movable walls/parts?

Try to think of it as a 3d composition.

Artwork by Rosie Hurley

5. Think about Colour and Texture

Use your sketchbook to explore colour palettes. What colours would suit your set/the initial stimulus? Mix and test colours in your sketchbook, or cut colours from magazines and stick them in.

Think about how you use the colours too. Think about backgrounds, foregrounds, objects on the stage. Will there be colour everywhere? Will you have areas of no colour?

Think about the materials and textures you will use when you build your model set. Explore different materials – fabrics, wire, wood, paper, string, found objects… there is no limit to the materials you might use.

Felted and Embroidered Yellow Living Room by Gabby Dickson

6. Start Building your Model Set

Take a box, and cut away some sides so you are left with a 3, 4 or 5 sided structure in which to make your model set. Don’t forget to look back through your sketchbook to see your ideas about structure.

Start making! This is the fun bit and your ideas might change from your initial sketchbook work – and that is absolutely fine and as it should be!

Chalkboard Prop for Kitchen By Gabby Dickson

7. Think about Lighting

Finally it is time to light your set. Consider how you might use torches or natural light to light the set. Perhaps you will use coloured lenses too. Remember lighting is a key tool to create mood and it should be used with the mood of the original stimulus in mind.

Rosie Hurley Set Design

8. Photograph your Set!

Take photographs of your set, making sure you explore camera angles, near and far focus and lighting.

If you have time, use your set as basis for an animation!

Artwork by Gabby Savage-Dickson

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Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

talking points: negative space by tiny inventions

Explore the work of animation directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata.

A collection of imagery and sources designed to stimulate conversation around the work of Xgaoc’o X’are.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Xgaoc’o X’are

Two Giraffe and Two Birds II- Botswanan Printmaker Xgaoc’o X’are

Two giraffe and two birds II, Mono print, Xgaoc’o X’are, 50 x 65 cm

Xgaoc’o X’are grew up on a farm in the Ghanzi District in Western Botswana. He now makes mono Prints inspired by his knowledge and love of the Kalahari.

For Xgaoc’o, art gives him the opportunity to put the ideas in his head on a canvas in beautiful naive forms and playful colours. His work is informed by a childhood spent working on farms and hunting with his father and brother for food.

His work is a reflection of his love of the Kalahari Desert and captures the essence of the rock art created centuries ago by his ancestors in Twyfelfontein. The oldest engravings are thought to be as old as 10,000 years.

He signs his work in his Naro name Qhaqhoo.

“Engravings at Twyfelfontein” by hobgadlng is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Xgaoc’o X’are’s (Qhaqhoo) work displays a strong sense of pattern, skewed perspectives and uneven shapes with rich detail. His work is reminiscent of Naive Art, which breaks the rules of the traditional 3 rules of perspective. These rules affect size, colour and the level of detail with distance.

Having had no formal art training Xgaoc’o X’are (Qhaqhoo) draws on his personal experiences and ancestral history to capture a beautiful instinctive approach to materials, colour and composition.

See more of Xgaoc’o X’ares work here.

The Naro language uses clicking noises in its phonetic alphabet. To pronounce the Naro name ‘Qhaqhoo’ we recommend looking at a phonetic table for creating the click noise ‘Qh’. Please do let us know if you have any more information relating to the pronunciation.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

How does it make you feel?

Which words would you use to describe the whole piece?

How has the artists experience influenced this artwork?

What comparisons can you make between the artists work and the rock engravings?

Make a list of all the animals you often see in your environment.

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway:Exploring the world though mono print

This is featured in the ‘Exploring The World Through Mono print’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore different treehouses.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Treehouses

Questions to Ask Children

Which treehouse is your favourite? Why?

If you could build your own treehouse what would its purpose be? For living in? Playing?

Can you think of an invention that could be used for getting up and down into a treehouse without using a ladder or steps?

Do you prefer the big treehouses or the small treehouses? Why?

Is there an area in your local community where you’d like to build a treehouse? What materials would you use and why? What would its purpose be?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Stick Transformation project

This is featured in the ‘Stick Transformation Project’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the tradition of Guatemalan Worry Dolls.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Guatemalan Worry Dolls

You may wish to show pupils the video above from 2.25 minutes onwards if there are any anxious children in the class.

“Guatemalan worry dolls” by roxweb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“4 worry dolls at work” by Leonard J Matthews is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Questions to Ask Children

When Guatemalan people make Worry Dolls, in what ways are the dolls the same and in what ways are the dolls different from each other?

What is the purpose of the dolls?

How do the dolls reflect the culture of where they are made?

Do Guatemalan people make Worry Dolls for themselves or for others, or both?

Do artists make the dolls, or do you think anyone can make the dolls? 

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Stick Transformation project

This is featured in the ‘Stick Transformation Project’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of animation directors Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Tiny Inventions

Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata are award-winning animation directors. They often combining handcrafted art, CG animation, drawn animation, stop-motion and photographic effects. Since 2008, Max & Ru have been working together as “Tiny Inventions”. 

Watch this video to see how Max and Ru made the animation Negative Space.

(The animation below contains themes of death.)

See the main animation to find out how the set came to life. 

Questions to Ask Children

How does the set make you feel?

Do you like like the set?

What about the set draws your attention?

What materials do you think the directors may have used to make the set?

How long do you think it might have taken to build this sets for an animation?

How many different sets can you spot in the animation?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

A collection of sources and imagery to explore the work of set designer Rae Smith.

Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control. 

Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate. 

We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks. 

*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*

This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.

Rae Smith

Rae Smith is a British set and costume designer.

Smith worked as set designer on War Horse, a stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel about a horse on the Western Front of the First World War.

To prepare for the role Smith reviewed personal recollections, photographs and archives from the period, held at the Imperial War Museum. A key theme was the use of the backdrop as a giant sheet of paper from one of the characters sketchbooks, onto which she projected images that might have been drawn by the character.

Please Note: If you ask students to research the artist on computers, the ‘sketchbooks’ section of her website contains some inappropriate content for children.

Find the drawings and mock ups of Rae Smiths set here.

Watch this video to find out how Rae Smith starts work on a new project. 

Warhorse Animation Montage

“Working with the drawings by show designer Rae Smith, and creating new digital content, we were able to create an animated sketch book that travels from idyllic Devon to the horror of WWI battlefields.” – Peter Stenhouse, Animator

Questions to Ask Children

How do Smith’s drawings make you feel?

Describe the atmosphere of the set. How do you think this has been achieved?

What materials do you think the artist used?

Does this make you think of set design in a different way?

What do you think the role of ‘set designer’ entails?

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Set Design

This is featured in the ‘Set Design’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

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. 

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…

drawing fish with pen, pencil and watercolour

Explore drawing and painting materials

globe paintings

Let the paint decide what it wants to do

A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky.

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Kandinsky and Responding to Music

Teacher’s Notes

“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” – Vassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter born in 1866. Kandinsky was gifted with the neurological phenomenon ‘synesthesia’ which allowed him to associate music with colours. Kandinsky is considered a pioneer of abstraction in western art.

Take a close look at these paintings, talking about them as a class, and using the questions to help deepen looking. 

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you see.

What do you think could be happening in this abstract painting?

What kind of music do you think that Kandinsky was listening to when he painted this?

What do you think the blue dashes represent?

How does the painting make you feel?

Watch this animation that brings elements of Kandinsky’s paintings to life.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you feel watching the animation?

What colour would you associate with the music played by a saxophone? A drum?

If you could animate one of the paintings above or below, how would you bring it to life? What would you make it do? 

Untitled (1916) by Wassily Kandinsky. Original from The Art Institute of Chicago.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you think Kandinsky was feeling when he painted this painting?

What genre of music do you think that Kandinsky might have been listening to while he was painting this?

Play a Kandinsky Painting in class with this interactive Google Arts and Culture Activity.

Watch this video on how to paint like Kandinsky whilst putting your own experience at the centre of the painting. 

Questions to Ask Children

Choose a colour and a shape to describe how you’re feeling right now.

This Talking Points Is Used In…

Pathway: Music and art

This is featured in the ‘Music and Art’ pathway

using sketchbooks to make visual notes

Show me what you see

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

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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.

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