Exemplar Primary Art Curriculum – Year One

Discovering Charcoal

The Discovering Charcoal Exercise helps children explore the potential of using charcoal for mark making. Use this warm-up exercise as an introduction to the media, and follow it with the session idea below.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here.

Drawing Like a Caveman

Introduce children to the beginnings of drawing, and inspire simple mark making, through the medium of charcoal and handprint art. Each child is enabled to follow an individual and empowering exploration.

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Wax Resist Autumn Leaves

The Wax Resist Autumn Leaves resource helps develop observational drawing skills in a variety of medium and combines them with experimental mark making. The resulting leaves can be used in individual or class artwork.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here.

Squiggle Drawing & Autumn Floor Drawing

Introduce children to drawing exercises which will help their drawing skills throughout school, and give a focus to their exploration of drawing media through Squiggle Drawing and Autumn Floor Drawings.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here

Warm Up Drawing Exercise – Drawing Spirals

The Drawing Spirals warm up drawing exercise introduces children to the idea that when you draw you can use your fingers, wrist, arm, shoulder and whole body. Drawing can be physical. The exercise also helps develop coordination and introduces scale. Follow up with the project below.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here.

Drawing Spiral Snails

Explore colour and mark making with this wonderful project to encourage dynamic, colourful drawings Drawing Spiral Snails.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here

Drawing Feathers – Perfect for Mark Making

The Drawing Feathers mark making resource is the perfect way to help children develop their looking skills and to get them to think about how to make their creative response. Over time, projects like this help develop confident and expressive mark making. Use to develop sketchbook skills and as a precursor to the project below.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here.

Making Sculptural Birds

Let drawing skills develop naturally into 3d making in this construction project which incorporates drawing, collage and sculpture and which will enable pupils to create a whole flock of individual birds! Making Sculptural Birds.

Not quite right for your school? See more Sculpture resources here

Plastacine Print Making

Plastacine is an ideal material to introduce printmaking to young children. Th Plastacine Print Making resource has all the information teachers will need to explore this process for making effective prints.

Not quite right for your school? See more Printmaking resources here.

Making Magic Spells

The Making Magic Spells resource is an excellent way to consolidate drawing and mark making skills learnt during the year, and to celebrate how they can be used in a collaborative class artwork. It also helps children look at familiar objects in new ways.

Not quite right for your school? See more Drawing resources here.

After School Clubs & MAT

The Making Finger Puppets resource is a great project for MAT pupils or for an after school club where numbers are smaller and time less pressured.

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