Art and design and technology are skills you will learn in school where you can use your imaginative and creative talents. You will talk about and explain your ideas and methods as well as your likes and dislikes (preferences).

Design and technology threads through lots of others things we learn about like the foods you make and eat, the techniques you use when making things (cutting, folding), how circuits work and how these link to using computers and the other technologies around you. This includes the tools you select to use and why, testing your ideas and designs and then adapting them.

Art includes learning about colours, making different colours, sketching, exploring artists and talking about preferences for different aspects of art (painting, sketching and abstract). This will be with flat (2D) pictures and paintings, and 3D models, structures and sculptures.

HOME LEARNING

ACTIVITY IDEAS:

Natural Collage

On your next nature walk, or even when you are in the garden, collect some natural objects. Things like stones, twigs, leaves, flower petals, grass or seeds. When you get home, arrange your items to make a pattern or picture, before gluing them onto paper. You have now made your own natural sculpture! You could also make one outside by arranging it on the grass/drive and leaving it for someone else to enjoy!

                                                                        Rock Painting

Create your own pet rocks/rainbow rocks. Find a rock in your garden. Decide what mini beast or animal it will be. Perhaps you may like to paint it rainbow coloured for the NHS! Paint it, decorate it and protect it from the weather by painting it again (after the first coat of paint is dry) with PVA glue! Display in your garden or on your driveway. You  could even hide them in the park for other people to find!

Spoon Story Characters

Do you have any old spoons in your kitchen? Large, wooden spoons work best for this activity. Choose a favourite story character, like Little Red Riding Hood. Use whatever you can find around the house to add hair, eyes, and an outfit. You now have your own story character. Perhaps a family member could make one too and you could put on a show?

Make your own sock/finger puppet

Using felt, an old t-shirt or a sock (freshly washed, of course) cut out and make your own puppet. You may need to sew the sides together so you can get your hand inside. Decorate your puppet with googly eyes, wool for hair, or bits of material  to make an outfit. You could make an animal or story character, or perhaps base your puppet on a member of your family!

Piet Mondrian Paintings

Using coloured tape or masking tape, make shapes by sticking tape onto A4 paper. Then paint the gaps between the tape. When the paint has dried, slowly and carefully remove the tape. You will be left with a wonderful picture! You can also paint on some black lines in the style of Piet Mondrian  You could do this activity on the path outside, or perhaps on a wall - ask permission first, though!

Self-Portraits / Family Portraits

Using a mirror to help you look carefully, draw or paint your own face on A4 paper. Remember to make your head quite large to start. You may want to colour it or paint it afterwards. Perhaps you could ask a family member to pose for a portrait too!

Kandinsky’s Concentric Circles

This is one of Miss Anderson’s favourite art activities. First split your paper into 8 by folding it carefully. Then in each section, draw a small circle, then around that another circle, slightly bigger, then around that, another circle and so on. You should end up with about 6 circles in each of the paper sections, one inside the other. You then paint the circles in different colours- one colour for the first circle, then a second colour for the second one and so on. Using your fingers for this is great fun!

Optical Illusion Art

Draw around your hand on paper. Using a ruler, draw straight lines across your paper, avoiding the white section inside your hand. Then inside your hand, draw the lines in a curved motion going upwards, like a small hill. Then paint your lines. It will look like your hand is hiding underneath the paper, trying to come out!

Mask Making

Another great activity is mask making. You could make an animal, story character or even a superhero. You can print lots of templates for mask making online, but if you want to draw it from scratch, just make sure your mask is not too small and goes from one ear to the other. When you’ve coloured it in, use string or wool to hole punch each side and tie it at the back of your head. You could even fix it to a headband!

Still Life

Have a go at drawing something still. Perhaps you could draw the fruit in the fruit bowl. Or even a plant, or a vase of flowers. You have to look really carefully at the position of everything and the colours. You may need to use your colour mixing skills if you decide to paint your work.

Pointillism

This is a great activity and can be done with felt tips, paint or even on the computer or IPad. All you are doing is creating a picture using only dots. Start with something easy, like an apple. Can you make a picture of an animal by only using dots? You could use your finger or a cotton bud.

                                   Paper Chains

Make paper chains to decorate your house or bedroom by cutting paper into strips, folding it and gluing the ends. Slide another paper strip through the circle of the first one, and join. Perhaps you could make a rainbow paper chain?

If any of our Woodlands children would like to have a go at any of these activities, I would love to see what you have made! Please send photographs of your art work to me at s57handerson@woodlands-inf.solihull.sch.uk. Have fun!

WEBSITE SUGGESTIONS:

Art and Craft Activities: https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/learn-to-draw

How to Sketch: https://teachingideas.co.uk/subjects/drawing-and-sketching

How to Draw: https://www.education.com/activity/arts-and-crafts/

How to Draw: https://www.activityvillage.co.uk/learn-to-draw 

Cross-Curricular DT Projects: https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/subjects/dt

New Art and Design Lessons everyday: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zyg4d2p 

Art activity ideas and interactive activities: https://www.tate.org.uk/kids

View any of the 250,000 artworks, learn about artists, stories, topics or movements: https://artuk.org/discover/discover

Visit the interactive art gallery: https://www.starfall.com/h/ftr-art/?t=255608071

Learn how to draw with Peter Reynolds: http://www.fablevision.com/place/museum/tracingace.html

DIY crafts and projects: https://www.crayola.com/crafts/

Make musical instruments out of craft materials: https://www.lessonsense.com/themes/music/music-crafts/

Ideas for painting, drawing or constructing: http://www.iamanartist.ie/paint-and-colour/

Draw and make things on cbeebies: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes