This year we decided to incubate duck eggs with Years 1 and 2 and everyone was delighted when Daisy and Pierre hatched. The children were fully involved in the care of the ducklings, the video shows the children giving them their first swim in a paddling pool. They grew quickly and were set free on the school lake at the beginning of July. Incredibly they have bonded with a family of mallards and are happily living together. We do still feed them and they are very tame, happily eating from the children’s hands.
The challenge for the painting was for the children not to make a hard outline for the body and the heads of the ducklings. I introduced the idea of using different lengths of card to print, giving the effect of down.
With Year 2, I mixed up a couple of shades of yellow for them, and they painted directly onto A3 white cartridge paper. We talked about creating two overlapping circles for the head and the body, one being larger than the other. The bills and legs were added using paintbrushes and the children mixed their own colours.
With Year 3, we began with ‘brusho’ washes to give a blue background. I made a range of colours available, and the children experimented with them, adding varying amounts of water to alter the intensity of the colour. It was important to keep reminding the children that this was a background and so less important than the painting that they were going to make over the top. ‘Brusho’ is exciting to use as it floods a page with vibrant colour quickly and easily, the children love using it. While the ‘brusho’ dried we went outside to observe the ducklings and discuss how we were going to paint them. It was interesting to note that the ducklings bills were pink and legs were orange.
Back in the classroom I demonstrated the card printing technique, body first, then overlapping head. I showed the children how by changing the angle of the head of duckling affects the mood/character of the painting. I used a cut out triangle of card and moved it into different places on my painting to demonstrate, and encouraged them to do the same before committing to the painted version.
The children were very proud of these paintings. I think because they love Daisy and Pierre so much, they had real affection for their paintings. This work clearly shows the difference between the two year groups, Year 2 on the white paper and Year 3 on the blue. I include the final photo of Daisy and Pierre at the edge of the lake with their adopted family in the background!
As a result of the success of this project, Year 3 went onto make collaged paintings inspired by a summer meadow which you can see here: ’The Wildflower Meadow’.
See more resources by Rachel Burch, including the ‘The Wildflower Meadow’ here
This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.
AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.
We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.
Talking Points: Artists inspired by flora and fauna
Drawing source material: Wild flowers
Nursery Night Time Collage
Santa comes in all Shapes and Sizes: Yr 3 Make Bouncing Santas!
Spotting Potential and Nurturing a Young Talent
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Use Scrapstores!
Scrapstores enrich visual arts learning by making it more accessible, sustainable, and creatively engaging.
If you run an after-school art club, visiting your local scrap store can help you access a wide range of high-quality art and craft materials for your members. The range of materials in scrapstores changes from day to day and could include card, paper, textiles, paint, corks, wool, cardboard tubes, netting, gauze and a thousand other things!
All scrapstores have different means of accessing their scrap materials. In some, you need to pay an individual membership fee, whilst in others, you simply pay for the scrap you take on the day. Below is a list of scrapstores nationwide, with contact details for each. If you are interested in listing your scrap store on the AccessArt website, then please contact rachel@accessart.org.uk.
You can see inspiring resources on using scrapstore materials here: A Wealth of Materials
Renée Materials reduces waste and cuts emissions on a large scale by offering businesses’ off-cuts, surplus stock, and leftover materials for reuse. We feature high-quality materials like paper, wood, textiles, leather, glass, metal, and yarn through our marketplace.”
Birmingham Playcentre Network, Birmingham
“Enjoy the joy of crafting while helping the environment at BPCN.”
Address and Opening Times:
Birmingham Playcare Network
Hollymoor Centre
8 Manor Park Grove
Birmingham
B31 5ER
Tuesday – Friday 10.00 am- 4.00 pm
1st and 3rd Saturday of the month 10.00 am – 2.00 pm
Children’s Scrapstore, Bristol
“The Children’s Scrapstore is a reuse charity dedicated to helping businesses divert reusable waste away from landfill/energy recovery to help improve art and play opportunities for children, young people and adults.”
Address and Opening Times:
Scrapstore House
21 Sevier Street
Bristol
BS2 9LB
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Thursday 11.00 am – 5.00pm
Re-Imagine Resource Centre, Cambridgeshire
“At Re-Imagine, we are finding creative ways to help look after our planet. We are passionate about being creative to be well, and I provide making sessions in-store and run outreach workshops for all types of groups, as well as a fully stocked resource warehouse full of amazing items to be turned into something eco-fabulous.
We collect wonderful materials that businesses normally just throw away, and for a tiny fee, make them available for you to transform into works of art, to play with or wherever your imagination leads…”
“Our Scrapstore is named Bits and Bobs because that’s exactly what you’ll find. In amongst the rolls of colourful card, massive containers full of fabric scraps, there are lots of things we don’t even have names for.”
Address and Opening Times:
3 Commercial Road
March
Cambridgeshire
PE15 8QP
01354 607667
Factory Shop open to members:
Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9.30am to 4pm
Fridays and Saturdays, 9.30am to 2pm
Play and Recycling Centre, Derby
“PARC is a registered charity in Derby providing mountains of fantastic, recycled resources as well as opportunities for people to learn about how we can actively support our environment through reducing waste, re-using and recycling. We offer recycled resources and materials and prevent them from going into landfill. We process these to provide low-cost resources. We encourage creativity and provide opportunities to gain creative skills and share our ideas for how resources can be used. We want people to recycle, repurpose and re-love materials and reduce landfill. Low-priced recycled materials such as wools, fabrics, beads, ribbon, haberdashery, vinyl sheets, blind fabrics, art paper and paints, craft resources and household paint.”
Address and Opening Times:
Play And Recycling Centre
6 – 10 Werburgh Street
Derby
DE22 3QG
01332 299165
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 10am-2pm
First and Third Saturday of every month 9:15am-2pm
Artytime Scrapstore, East Sussex
“Using Artytime Scrapstore is a brilliant way to reuse materials and promote recycling. These materials may be supplied to individuals, families and schools. As well as playgroups, holiday clubs, special needs groups and other community organisations such as Scouts and Guides. Please ask about our large group membership. Most of the materials will be free, some may have a small charge.”
Address and Opening Times:
Jarvis Brook recreational park
Crowborough
East Sussex
TN6 2EG
Monday 3.30 pm – 5.30 pm
Tuesday 9.30am – 11.30 am
Wednesday 9.30 am – 11.30 am
Thursdays 4.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Every second Sunday and the last Sunday of the month, 10.00 am – 12.00 pm
The Gloucestershire Resource Centre, Gloucester
“The Gloucestershire Resource Centre has been promoting creativity in the arts, health, play and education sector through the re-use of materials from industry and business for over 32 years now. We don’t specialise in any type of materials, as we have to run with the surplus being generated by local businesses within our catchment of Gloucestershire at the time. We rely on the national community of scrap stores to exchange materials, so we can provide variety and choice for our 1300-plus members.”
Address and Opening Times:
City Works
Alfred Street
Gloucester
GL14DF
Tuesday 10:00 am – 7:00pm
Wednesday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Thursday 10:00am – 5:00pm
Plus occasional Saturdays 10am – 1pm
The Children’s SCRAP Project, Hackney
“The Children’s S.C.R.A.P project is a registered charity No. 281010 which collects, stores and distributes clean, safe, industrial waste to schools, nurseries, colleges, special needs groups, churches, hospital wards, playgroups, community groups and charitable organisations involved in education.”
Rose Tinted Rags is a “textile Resource & Arts Centre selling Vintage and Modern fabrics, haberdashery, curtains, antique lace, wool and assorted miscellanea. Arts workshop working with adults with disabilities.”
Union Walk
Commercial Rd
The Country Bus Station
Hereford
Ragtag Arts, Kendal
“The environment is at the heart of our Ragtag Arts. This is evident in all that we do, from running the community scrapstore, making repurposed craft kits, working in partnership with sustainable providers, and our extensive workshop program in schools and at events and festivals.”
Address and Opening Times:
Unit 16 Mealbank Mill Ind Est
Mealbank
Kendal
LA8 9DL
“Do you need inspiring, cheap arts and crafts and design materials, or props for your productions or unusual creative play resources? Do you want to use more sustainable materials? For an economical fee, you, your school or your group can join the Work and Play Scrapstore based in Tooting and have unlimited access to our materials for your projects, all of which are saved from landfill. Paper and paint, textiles and trimmings, buttons and bubble wrap, wood, foam, fine wire, and so much more… come and visit us and see for yourself.No need to book an appointment, just come and look around!”
Tuesday 11.00am-5.00pm
Thursday 11:00-5pm
Every first Saturday of the month, 11.00am-4.00pm
Every third Sunday of the month, 11.00am-4.00pm
Community Scrapstore, North Somerset
“The Community Scrapstore is an Aladdin’s cave full of marvellous and sometimes quirky resources that will fire the imagination and spark creativity and play.”
Address and Opening Times:
66 Gazelle Road
Weston-super-Mare
BS24 9ES
Monday: 11.00 am – 4.00 pm
Tuesday: 9.00 am – 1.00 pm
Thursday and Friday: 11.00 am – 4.00 pm
Saturday: 9.00 am – 2.00 pm
Orinoco Scrapstore, Oxford
“Orinoco is an Oxfordshire scrap store with a long history of using creativity, craft and play to inspire the reuse of materials that would otherwise end up in landfills. It would be easy to assume that this little charity is all about scrap, but take a look behind the lorry loads of materials saved, and you’ll find a source of affordable resources for schools and organisations working with children and young people across Oxfordshire. For more information, have a look at our website.”
Address and Opening Times:
111-113 Pound Way
Templars Square Shopping Centre
Cowley
OX4 3XH
Tel. 07763 923746
Email. oxford@orinoco.org.ukTuesday 12-4pm
Wednesday – Saturday 10.30am to 4.30pm
Community Scrap Shack, Stone-on-Trent
“Community Scrapstore is an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’ full of exciting and affordable reclaimed resources suitable for use in play and creativity, and is open to families, individuals, schools and community groups as day or annual members.”
Address and Opening Times:
Unit 2
7 China Street
Fenton
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 3NJ
Tuesday and Wednesday 10.00 am – 5.00 pm
Saturday 10.00 am – 1.00 pm
The Recycle Yard, Wakefield
“The Recycle Yard Ltd recycles waste from the local area that can be reused for arts, crafts and play. We support local schools, nurseries, community groups, charity groups etc by supplying them with low cost materials or through donations.”
Address and Opening Times:
16D Healey Road
Ossett
United Kingdom
Monday 10:00 am – 2:00pm
Tuesday 10:00 am – 2:00pm
Wednesday 10:00 am – 4:0opm
Saturday 10:00 am – 2:00pm
