• Everyone sits around a table with a piece of paper and a pencil.
• Model shading as a technique in the first square; children copy.
• Model cross-hatching in the second square; children copy.
• Model using dots close together and further apart in the third square; children copy.
• In the final square, children can practise their favourite technique.
Stitch It
RESOURCES
Small piece of Binca fabric for each child
Needle
Thread
ACTIVITY
• Provide the children with the fabric, needle and thread.
• See if they can thread the needle; if not, help them with this.
• Model making a stitch.
• Closely supervise each child while they stitch.
ART
1. Sunflower Strokes
Learning Objective
Emerging
Pupils are aware of starting or stopping a process.
Additional Skills
Gross motor: using core to support self on the floor.
Fine motor: using a grip on the pastels to make marks.
Auditory: stopping and starting an activity following an auditory cue.
Resources
Large sheets of paper
Masking tape
Pastels in yellows, oranges and greens
Large copies of Van Gogh’s painting Sunflowers
Music to paint to, such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
MAIN
• To set up this activity, tape the large paper to the floor and place the pastels around the paper.
• Support the children to come and sit on the floor by the paper in a space next to the pastels.
• Show the children Van Gogh’s pictures and identify the colours and features.
• Place a vase of real sunflowers in the middle of the large paper and explain that today we are going to make our own sunflower pictures.
• We will start when the music starts and stop when the music stops.
• Play the music and support children to make marks using the pastels, briefly looking at the sunflowers for inspiration.
• Periodically stop the music and everyone stops drawing. Encourage children to look at drawing and look at sunflower to review drawing.
• Start the music again and everyone starts drawing again.
• Continue for as long as children can maintain attention.
PLENARY
Stop the music for a final time and count down ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1, painting has finished.’ Support the children to stand up and look at their drawings; do they look like Van Gogh’s?
CONSOLIDATION ACTIVITIES
Use music as an auditory cue to start and stop other activities across the day, e.g. play music to prompt the children to come and sit in the circle, play music at the end of playtime to signal the end of the play.
2. Firework Fingers
Learning Objective
Emerging
Pupils make marks intentionally on a surface with fingers or tools.
Additional Skills
Fine motor: using one finger to make marks.
Auditory: making marks in response to music.
Tactile: experiencing and tolerating sensory media such as paint.
Resources
Large white paper
Tape
Different coloured paints in different pots
Access to firework images and music (e.g. a clip of the London New Year’s Eve fireworks on the interactive whiteboard)
MAIN
• To set up this activity, tape the large paper to a table top and place the pots of different coloured paint along the paper.
• Support the children to come and sit in a semicircle ready to learn.
• Show the children the images and music of fireworks and identify the colours, supporting the children to track the movement of the fireworks.
• Support the children to come to the table and model placing a finger in a pot of paint, naming the colour and then making a ‘whoosh’ sound while making a swishing mark on the paper in imitation of a firework.
• Support the children to choose a colour, place their finger in the paint and make swishing movements to make marks that imitate fireworks.
• Play the firework music and images in the background whilst the children are painting.
PLENARY
Support the children to use their finger, paintbrush or pen to ‘sign’ their work alongside the marks they have made.
CONSOLIDATION ACTIVITIES
Repeat this activity using different sensory media and tools, e.g. using paintbrushes, dipping dishcloths in paint and throwing them at the paper.
3. Brilliant Butterflies
Learning Objective
Emerging
Pupils repeat an activity to make the same or similar effect.
Additional Skills
Visual: beginning to recognise similarities in patterns.
Fine motor: using pinching motion to fold paper.
Communication: making a choice from two colours.
Resources
Pictures of butterflies
White paper
Symbols to match the colours of paints available
Different coloured paints in different pots
Paintbrushes
Large piece of white paper
MAIN
• Support the children to come and sit in a semicircle ready to learn.
• Sit in front of the group and name all the resources.
• Show the pictures of butterflies and point out how the patterns are the same on both sides.
• Model folding the white paper and opening it up again, choosing a colour symbol, matching it to the correct paint colour and making a pattern on one side of the paper, folding the paper again and then opening it to reveal the symmetrical pattern.
• Support children to move to the table to take part in the activity as independently as possible.
• Encourage the children to repeat this activity several times to make several butterflies.
PLENARY
Support the children to come back to the semicircle where the lesson began. Support each child to come to the front, choose a colour, make a shape on one side of the large piece of white paper and then all together fold the paper and open it again