Activity One – Photo Montage
Year 1 to Year 6
The Olympics will be covered in great detail by the world’s media and whilst millions of words will be written about the games we’re going to focus on the adage that says ‘a picture tells a thousand words’.
From the pictures already on the web of the development of the venues for the games to the thousands of pictures that will be taken at the opening ceremony, almost every moment of them will be documented in pictures.
This activity asks the children to be objective in selecting the pictures they think tells the story of the Olympics in London.
The children can make a scrap book from sugar paper bound together with treasury tags and do a design for the front of it.
Ask them to scan the newspapers and web each day for pictures that sum up the events and include them in their scrap book together with an annotation as to why they chose them.
At the end of the games, ask the children to swap scrap books and comment on each others' work.
Activity Two – Logos
Year 1 to Year 6
There was much controversy over the logo designed for the London 2012 Games but then almost every games has attracted comments from the media on the choice of logo.
Ask the children to find a selection of the logos or mascots of some Olympic games and how they came about.
Use the website http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/39-olympic-logos-from-1924-to-2012/ for ideas.
What do they notice about the elements used in the following?
London 2012
Vancouver 2010
Beijing 2008
Athens 2004
Sydney 2000
Lillehammer 1994
Barcelona 1992
Montreal 1976
From their findings ask them to improve on the logo for the 2012 games and finish with a vote on which one they think should have been adopted.
Activity Three – People in Action
Year 1 to Year 6
Use photographs of athletes ‘in action’ in sports such as running, swimming, high jump, hammer throwing and javelin etc. and ask the children to draw ‘stick people’ to document their stance whilst undertaking the action. Can they predict the changes in stance to complete the action?
Once they are happy with their predictions, ask them to divide a sheet of A4 paper into a 3 x 12 grid and copy the stick person carefully into the appropriate position on the grid spaces. By drawing the stick person sequentially, they should be able to overlay the pieces to create a ‘flick book’ to show the movement.
Once they’ve been successful with the paper version they can use free animation software such as Pivot to do an online Olympic animation.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/stickfigure.html
You can even upload your animation to YouTube once you’ve finished!
Activity Four – Critique
Year 1 to Year 6
This is a great idea for an assembly towards the end of the Olympics.
Using the scrap book from Activity One ask the children to select a picture that they think sums up the spirit of the games and to write a small introduction to it giving their reasons.
In assembly create a slide show of the images to be played whilst parents are waiting and ask the children to present their choice and the reasons they have chosen it. At the end, you can ask parents and/or the children to ‘vote’ for which their favourite was based on the introductions given by the children.
This activity allows the children to practise the skill of critiquing a piece of art, be it a painting, sculpture or, in this case, a photograph.
Dave Lewis
Primary teacher
Showing posts with label Primary Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Primary Art. Show all posts
Friday, 4 May 2012
Monday, 16 April 2012
Art Activities for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Activity One – Installation Art
EYFS to Year 6
The schools I have worked at have all had some installation art for significant events in the school’s history or for national events and I think that the queen’s diamond jubilee warrants a piece of art that will remain on display in the school grounds for many years afterwards. There are several ways of doing this each needing different levels of input to begin with.
Mural
Carefully designed by an artistic member of staff or a parent, a mural on any plain wall inside the school buildings or out is a great and simple idea. Divided by black lines into sections, each class can have a go at painting a part and adding their names to the bit they’ve done. Don’t forget to choose the paint type to suit indoors or outdoors.
Mosaic
A variation on the mural approach is to get the children to paint small tiles in different colours and textures which can then be used to make a mosaic picture, again indoors or outside. You’ll have to plan the overall design and get a rough idea of how many coloured tiles you’ll need. Again, the children can put their names on the tiles they produce.
Pebbles
One school I worked at asked the children to design pebbles with a picture of them on it and built a concrete backed rockery into which they stuck their pebbles. It made a fabulous picture of the school members, a little like the tea towel idea, and after being sprayed with exterior varnish, remained in place for years afterwards.
Activity Two – Community Project
Year 3 to Year 6
Many local authorities are working on community based projects for installation art for the queen’s jubilee celebrations as part of a plan to smarten up areas of towns and cities. Find out from your local authority if they have any plans and if not, suggest some for them. Years ago there was a geography topic on improving our local area and as long as it was tastefully done, our council had no objections to us completing a piece of art in our local park on a building that had been continually covered in graffiti.
Activity Three – Design Costume
Year 2 to Year 6
The queen is famous (or to some, infamous!) for her fashion and it seems to many that her favourite colour is yellow. She loves hats too so for this activity you’re going to get the children to design an outfit for the queen to wear on the weekend of the celebrations.
Take a look at what she usually wears in photographs and try to be creative whilst still designing something she might wear. You can even design a hat for her.
Choose patriotic colours or designs, different materials and think about the possible weather for the day.
You may want to think of what she’ll be doing whilst wearing the clothes you designed. Is she dancing, going to dinner, at the gym or simply walking through crowds of well-wishers.
Go on, get creative!
Activity Four – Changing Faces of the Queen
Year 3 to Year 6
The queen’s portrait has been pictured in many ways over the time of her reign. In this activity the children will look at the different representations of the queen over the years and try to order them chronologically.
You need to get pictures from throughout her life and reign but try to be creative in using coins, stamps, pictures on mugs and plates, newspapers, official painted portraits and photographs. Try some unusual ones like Rolf Harris’ portrait of her and some of the ones she didn’t like!
As a group activity it promotes a lot of discussion and interest, not only in what she looked like but also how her fashion and style have changed over the years.
Dave Lewis
Primary Teacher
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Primary General - Fruit and Vegetables
Getting children to have ‘5-a-Day’, five portions of fruit and vegetable a day, is a thankless task and leads to many sticky moments in parenting and in the dinner queue at school! These fun activities will help children see that fruit and vegetables aren’t all poisonous and will encourage them to eat them more often.
Activity One
A tasting session is always a good start, challenge the children to bring in some unusual fruit or vegetables for the class to try. Put the children into groups to prepare the fruit and vegetables, some may need cooking but a quick zap in the staffroom microwave is often enough! Now draw a chart on the board with the headings ‘Name’, ‘Colour’, ‘Texture’, ‘Taste’ and ‘Like/Dislike’. Now ask the children to try all of the available fruit and vegetables. Have a bin handy just in case and check for allergies beforehand – strawberries are a common allergy. When the tasting session is over, use the plenary to ask if there were any fruit or vegetables the children hadn’t tried before and which they think they like and will have again. Were there any they thought they wouldn’t like but now they’ve tried them they do like them (remember my experiences in the school dinner line!!)?
Activity Two
Use the chart that accompanies this activity sheet for the children to take home to record their intake of fruit and vegetables each day. They can write on the chart what they had and with which meal or they can draw pictures of the fruit and vegetables. The visual nature of a chart will encourage them to eat more but beware of those who cheat!! Maybe an initial by each one from mum or dad might be necessary!
Activity Three
Time for some investigation now. Using the website http://www.dole.com/funfacts-chart4-8.html ask the children to look at their chart from activity one and select eight fruit or vegetables they liked. Thinking of the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables such as fibre source, vitamins and minerals ask them to sort their favourites into the categories on a chart highlighting the one that would come top in each category. Ask them to see if there is a superfood in their diet that comes top in more than one category. During the plenary put together a set of class superfoods that they have discovered in their research.
Activity Four
Time for some creativity now! The essence of a great chef is not just cooking the food to perfection but also in the presentation. The colours and shapes of fruit or vegetables can help children make brilliant art work. Ask them to plan what picture or pattern they would like to make and label their plan with the fruit or vegetable they will use. In the next lesson, ask them to bring in the fruit or vegetables they will need and, on a plate, arrange them to form the picture or pattern. The children may need some help with cutting but normal cutlery knives which aren’t sharp will usually suffice. Once the picture is complete, photograph it for a display (or the microbes will soon make a meal of it!) and then provided hygiene standards have been maintained, the children can eat their pictures!
Activity Five
Another great way to enjoy fruit or vegetables is via smoothies or soups. Ask the children to come up with ideas for a super smoothie or a super soup, listing the ingredients, naming it and drawing a serving suggestion for it. In the next session ask parents/children to bring in liquidisers, food processors or smoothie makers and the fruit and vegetables they need and after a safety talk, allow the children to make their own smoothies. Those who opt to make soup may need to bring in ready cooked vegetables or the process could be a lot more complicated! The sessiom could end with a ‘Battle of the Smoothies’ with a tasting session to decide which is the best one!
As an extension activity, the children could design an advertisement for their smoothie together with a catch phrase or a jingle. They could look at cartons from smoothie producers and design their own alternative packaging for their smoothie.
Activity Six
To end this set of activities you could arrange a ‘colour party’ where the children bring in fruit and vegetables of different colours. They could then use the website from activity three to see if there is a relationship between the colours of the vegetables and their nutritional value. Finally, encourage each child to try a piece of fruit or vegetable from each colour.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
Activity One
A tasting session is always a good start, challenge the children to bring in some unusual fruit or vegetables for the class to try. Put the children into groups to prepare the fruit and vegetables, some may need cooking but a quick zap in the staffroom microwave is often enough! Now draw a chart on the board with the headings ‘Name’, ‘Colour’, ‘Texture’, ‘Taste’ and ‘Like/Dislike’. Now ask the children to try all of the available fruit and vegetables. Have a bin handy just in case and check for allergies beforehand – strawberries are a common allergy. When the tasting session is over, use the plenary to ask if there were any fruit or vegetables the children hadn’t tried before and which they think they like and will have again. Were there any they thought they wouldn’t like but now they’ve tried them they do like them (remember my experiences in the school dinner line!!)?
Activity Two
Use the chart that accompanies this activity sheet for the children to take home to record their intake of fruit and vegetables each day. They can write on the chart what they had and with which meal or they can draw pictures of the fruit and vegetables. The visual nature of a chart will encourage them to eat more but beware of those who cheat!! Maybe an initial by each one from mum or dad might be necessary!
Activity Three
Time for some investigation now. Using the website http://www.dole.com/funfacts-chart4-8.html ask the children to look at their chart from activity one and select eight fruit or vegetables they liked. Thinking of the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables such as fibre source, vitamins and minerals ask them to sort their favourites into the categories on a chart highlighting the one that would come top in each category. Ask them to see if there is a superfood in their diet that comes top in more than one category. During the plenary put together a set of class superfoods that they have discovered in their research.
Activity Four
Time for some creativity now! The essence of a great chef is not just cooking the food to perfection but also in the presentation. The colours and shapes of fruit or vegetables can help children make brilliant art work. Ask them to plan what picture or pattern they would like to make and label their plan with the fruit or vegetable they will use. In the next lesson, ask them to bring in the fruit or vegetables they will need and, on a plate, arrange them to form the picture or pattern. The children may need some help with cutting but normal cutlery knives which aren’t sharp will usually suffice. Once the picture is complete, photograph it for a display (or the microbes will soon make a meal of it!) and then provided hygiene standards have been maintained, the children can eat their pictures!
Activity Five
Another great way to enjoy fruit or vegetables is via smoothies or soups. Ask the children to come up with ideas for a super smoothie or a super soup, listing the ingredients, naming it and drawing a serving suggestion for it. In the next session ask parents/children to bring in liquidisers, food processors or smoothie makers and the fruit and vegetables they need and after a safety talk, allow the children to make their own smoothies. Those who opt to make soup may need to bring in ready cooked vegetables or the process could be a lot more complicated! The sessiom could end with a ‘Battle of the Smoothies’ with a tasting session to decide which is the best one!
As an extension activity, the children could design an advertisement for their smoothie together with a catch phrase or a jingle. They could look at cartons from smoothie producers and design their own alternative packaging for their smoothie.
Activity Six
To end this set of activities you could arrange a ‘colour party’ where the children bring in fruit and vegetables of different colours. They could then use the website from activity three to see if there is a relationship between the colours of the vegetables and their nutritional value. Finally, encourage each child to try a piece of fruit or vegetable from each colour.
Dave Lewis, Primary teacher
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