This project teaches children how to weave wools and other recycled fabrics. You can choose an image on which to base your weave - I often go for a sky or astrological image, or you can just freestyle. The first step is to prepare a miniature cardboard loom with some yarn. Loop the yarn all the way around the loom, using the grooves at the top and bottom of the loom to secure the yarn. Tape the yarn secure on the back of the loom. Then tie your wool or recycled materials to a large plastic bodkin needle and begin to weave over and under. Make sure to tie your first piece of wool to the first warp on your loom. Be careful to not pull the weave to tight as it gets tricky to weave towards the top and add beads and jewels if you fancy. Once you have finished, tie the last weave to a warp and cut off the warps at the back of the board. Tie every 2 warps together in knots to secure the weave and snip off the remainder of the yarn. I got the children to tie the top around twigs. Happy Weaving!

This is a quick 1 or 2 lesson project that looks at mark making. I introduce the idea that many pieces of art have been created without the use of a paintbrush. The children get messy by experimenting with various items dipped in black paint. I have a box full of bits and pieces -  pen lids, batteries, screws, springs, sticks, cotton buds, elastic bands, forks etc. and use these to create a mixture or marks. I cut out lots of square cards to experiment on and the drying racks gets full pretty quickly! The idea being that we do not need to use brushes and pencils to create art. Some interesting and unique marks were created.

This project combines hand drawn elements with Photoshop skills. You could design any type of house but this linked in with Victorian studies in history lessons. In hindsight they kind of look more Dutch than Victorian! The first stage was to look at typical Victorian homes and then use those features to carefully draw a traditional Victorian terrace design onto a net layout. This then has to be outlined in fine liner pen - this is a neat and detailed task. Once they have been outlined, I scan each one and the next stage is Photoshop. The pupils learn how to use the computer software programme to colour, layer and edit. Finally, print on some suitable A3 card, cut out and construct.

This is a fun project that gets children looking at similar hues of colour and the subtle differences between blues or reds etc. The first thing i do is find a popular painting or image and pixelate it on Photoshop or a similar editing software. I then crop into 10 x 10 cm grids and cut them out. I also give the children a 10 x 10 cm squared empty grid that I photocopied onto watercolour paper. They then have to try to match the corresponding colours carefully to ensure our finally picture works. It also helps to improve their brush skills in small areas - keeping inside the lines! The children love it when they see the final piece connected together, so let them guess and keep it a secret as to what it will be until the end.  

This is a fun and very messy project that gets children experimenting with lots of different materials. I first prepare lots of paper/card strips for them to experiment on. It can be circles, squares or whatever you fancy but I think long rectangles look like good 'sample' pieces. Then the mess begins! I have boxes full of paints, sand, coffee beans, foil, inks, fabric, pastels, cornflakes, beads, matchsticks, glue, string etc. Anything you can get your hands on! Get the children to experiment with everything - mixing ink with sand or crushing pastels, cornflakes and glue. Some will work, some will not. The best part is you get some amazing textures, colours and mixed media samples at the end to discuss.    

These insects were created after the children studied how to create intricate patterns and pen details. They worked hard to ensure they could create unique patterns that were extremely detailed. They then choose their favourite patterns and designed them on some insect templates before cutting them out. They look great in box frames! 

These authentic looking propaganda posters were created using hand drawn designs followed by Photoshop to edit, colour and look worn out. The children began by looking at examples of propaganda - what messages were trying to be conveyed? How did they try to persuade people to enlist or help out in the war? Were they manipulative? They then came up with some great slogans of their own. The next step was to use Microsoft Word to help with the layout of font and imagery - thinking about font and positioning. This was then printed and carefully traced through in fine liner before being scanned and completed with colour using Photoshop. The end results are fantastic!

This is a really nice project to get children working with watercolour pencils effectively. I have a large collection of famous paintings, ranging from Van Gogh and Monet to Doig and Hockney. The children select their painting and work with the watercolours to replicate the detailed marks they can see in the work. It is important for them to understand the number of different colours that can be seen in the smallest sections. Once they look closer and understand this, i'm always stunned by the accuracy of what they produce! 

Sewing stuffed toys is always a favourite. Over the years we have created stuffed food items, aliens and emojis. I usually prepare lots of templates to help guide the children if they are a first time sewer - most are! I guide them through each step, how to cut out templates, draw around them on felt, cut them out and finally how to thread a needle a sew. We look at how to create neat running stitches, over stitches, casting off as well as sewing on buttons and beads. This is an excellent project for improvements with manual dexterity.     

As a display, this project always looks great. As most children will study maps in Geography lessons, this project lets them create some 3D contours of their own. Make sure you have a selection of card - preferable 280/360mics. Then draw your base contour nice and big making sure it is an interesting shape as all the others have to follow this design. Cut the first contour out and then draw around it on a new piece of card. Then cut this second piece out but 1cm inside the line to make it a little smaller. Repeat this step 5 or 6 times until you have all your contours. I get the children to use small pieces of foam board and pritt stick between each layer to give the 3D effect. Try different shades of green or black/grey for interesting results. They always look great!  

An important part of art is learning how to draw accurately. It is also a frustrating and challenging process - to give an object a three dimensional appearance is not easy! The simplest way to start children along this path is to place geometric shapes under lamps in a darkened room and get drawing. With the shapes or shapes in place, demonstrate how you would go about drawing what is in front of you. I start by looking at scale - we don't want to draw it too small. Then angles - Talk about perspective and if our shape have parallel lines to help with accuracy. It often takes a long time to get the outline of the shapes drawn accurately - lots of rubbing out and re-drawing. Once this is done, move on to adding shade and tone. Where is the core shadow, cast shadow, highlights and mid-tones? With a selection of graphite pencils the children are able to produce some brilliant observational drawings. 

Another fun project that looks at how to create detailed, repeated patterns. I print out an A4 sheet with 6 or so squares on to do some patterns in. Encourage the children to go over the end of the square. This way, once cut out, it looks like their pattern would continue repeating itself - as if we have cut it out from a larger section. Use some nice colour pens and sharpies to complete. They then choose their favourites, cut them out and mount them onto some black card. They make great bookmarks. 

This is always a fun little project and it helps you use up any scrap pieces of paper/card! Start by looking at the work of Matisse and how his collage work is simple yet very effective. Get the children to cut shapes as well as keeping the parts from which they cut the shapes. First place on a sheet and arrange into an interesting composition but don't over think it! Then discuss what you can see in each one - a snail perhaps... 

This project works really well when looking at colour rather than trying to take on a whole painting/drawing. Get yourself some well known paintings and cut it into sections. A3 works well cut into 8 sections but i have also done some really big jigsaws with over 200 sections as well. Mix up the sections so the children have no idea what the final picture is. This way they just concentrate on the colours and marks in their chosen section.  Give them the corresponding part and they replicate what they see. The images here were all done in watercolour pencils but you can do paints or whatever you prefer. Once complete, connect all the parts and you have a brilliant combined project! 

These cardboard Cactus/Succulents are one of my favourite projects! start by looking at some examples of cactus and succulents - all the different shape and size possibilities. Draw all your plant pieces out onto thick card (old boxes) and don’t worry about the being perfect. Carefully cut out and paint both sides in colours and patterns of your choice. Also paint a piece of thin card to wrap around for a pot. once dry slot together like a jigsaw and use some glue guns for extra support/strength. The final stage is to add some pom-poms, beads, pipe cleaners to make them look funky and exotic. A great class project and installation/display!

This is a great project to do with the younger children, working on their cutting skills and dexterity. You can cut out and stick up your own trees but i purchased this pre-cut tree laminate online. They are usually used to decorate peoples living rooms, bedroom etc. Get the children to cut out some small birds, adding beaks and legs and stick to the wall with a bit of foam board. 

Using foam board is a great way to introduce children to the concept of printing. I usually get the children to start with an abstract design, to get them used to drawing marks into the foam board. It is not as easy as it looks, so something abstract looks a little better. A normal, sharp drawing pencil is often the best way to make impressions into the foam board. Make sure they do not go all the way through. Once this is done it is a simple case of showing the children how to use inks - rolling them out in pallets, making sure they have an even covering and keeping some rollers clean for dry rolling. Enjoy!

This is another simple yet very effective project. You can get the children to create their own small tape painting or a large, collaborative one like I have done here. I usually do this at the end of a colour studies unit so thew pupils have a better understanding of colour and how to blend and make successful gradients. Simply get plenty of thin masking tape or washi tape and section off a piece of watercolour paper. Smooth them done and get painting. Make sure they go over the tape so that when they peel it all off at the end they are left with some crisp sections of colour.  

Working with clay enables children to improve sensory development, motor skills, self esteem, self expression, problem solving skills and much more. I have made clay masks, tiles and pots over the years and it can always be cross-curricular with other lessons. Such as The Stone age, Aztecs, Day of the Dead. This particular project is about making interesting marks and patterns into clay shape tiles. I always use air-dry clay, it is much simpler than using a kiln. After the children have had a play with the clay I cut some circle and square shape tiles for them to work on. They then us a box full of screws, sticks, batteries, pens, cogs, buttons etc. to make impressions in the clay. After the clay is dry (usually 3/4 days) they paint and glaze. 

Instead of throwing away old maps, turn them into a piece of art. I find old maps online, or scan old maps from books and get the children to use compasses to draw a mixture of circles on the maps. some big, some small. Then just colour in the sections. They look great all joined together as a display and I have also done the same thing with old sheet music. It is a great project to help them get to grips using a compass as well!

These tonal collages are one of my favourite projects but also a little tedious as they take a long time to complete. I usually do this project after studying how to draw tonal shapes as the children have a better understanding of shade and tone. The first draw out the shape or shapes onto paper/card - I would do this no bigger than A5. I then have bags full of shredded tone. I print out 7/8 different sheets of A4 tones - from light to dark and different marks. Put the A4 sheets of tone through a shredder so they are in strips and place them in separate numbered bags. Get the children to number their drawings - picking out the lightest areas, the mid tones and the darkest areas. They they select the strips of tone and use a pritt stick to trim and stick down. The overall results look great when viewed from a distance. 

This is a really fun task to do with children with fantastic results. As part of an artist study unit where we talk about modern artists and then replicate some of their work, we look at the work of Damien Hirst and his spin paintings. To do this at home or in the art room, purchase some cheap salad spinners - roughly about £5 each. Then cut out some circles from card and place in the bottom of the salad spinner. Then squeeze some paints in - not too much to start with, put the lid on and spin! I use a mixture of poster paints, acrylics and fabric paints for different results. Open it up and add some more paint and spin again. Stop once you are have with the results and carefully remove the circle and from the salad spinner. You are left with your own spin art to frame - simple!

This is another one of my favourite projects that involves hand drawn elements with Photoshop. Give the children an A4 piece of paper and get them to design their own futuristic city/skyline. You will get some fun ideas - skyscrapers in the shape of burgers and trees and aqua slides connecting to each building! Once they have lightly drawn their buildings, get them to go around them in fine liner before scanning to use on Photoshop. On Photoshop show the children how to layer, add colours and gradients before printing onto A3 card and cutting out. I like to layer them all up, over the top of each each to create an extremely busy and hectic futuristic city full of colour!   

These sea creatures have been created using pva glue, tissue paper and a plastic zip wallet. The first step is to draw out or trace a template of a sea creature (you can of course do any theme of animals) onto an A3 sheet of paper. Then get some A3 plastic zip wallets and cut them in half and dispose of the zip. Then using a permanent marker trace through the design on the zip wallet. The next stage is really fun. Slather the design in pva glue and start to over lap pieces of tissue paper. Once you have done 1 layer of tissue paper, slather in glue again and do another layer. repeat this process until you have done 4 or 5 layers with a final layer of glue. Leave to dry for 2 or 3 days and then cut out your creature from the plastic sheet and dispose of the plastic sheet. You are left with a tissue paper sea creature. Finally add detail with metallic pens. 

Using some basic materials you achieve a great looking stained glass window. Get he children to design their own windows on a piece of A3 paper. I give them plenty of references and resources to help as well as an option of frames so they get a sense of scale. Once they have draw it out get them to trace it though onto a plastic zip wallet (cut in half) with a permanent black marker. Now all they need to do is use sharpies to colour in the sections. Once complete, cut out and stick a sheet of tin foil behind. Finally cut out a black card frame and you have your very own stained glass window.

Quilling is the art of rolling narrow strips of paper into coils or scrolls, and arranging them to form elegant filigree. You can get the children to quill any design, just make sure to prepare a template first of all so they can follow a shape or pattern. You can buy Quilling pens and boards to help hold the rolled paper before sticking down but using your hands works just as well. Quilling is an extremely delicate technique and most children find it relaxing. It is great if you want a nice and quiet project for a week or two!

Henna Hands are a cool lesson and art activity that teaches children about different cultures. Hennas are used to create beautiful, intricate designs on hands and feet and this is a great activity to link work on Islam or Hinduism or countries such as Morocco and India. Get the children to draw around their hand on black card - they can help each other out - and then cut out and stick to a coloured card background. Make sure you have some nice metallic/ paint pens to create some authentic looking hennas. 

As children often study the Egyptians in other lessons, it is always a good idea to transfer their knowledge into their art lessons. Using paint pens to create hieroglyphics, collage skills to create a death mask and pastels to make them look old and authentic, these large Egyptian Portraits look great!

As part of an artist study unit with my Year 6 pupils, they looked at the work of controversial artist Grayson Perry. Perry is a Turner Prize winner, whose pots and tapestries often portray imagined narratives or events with a socially or political message. After looking at his work, the children carefully hand drew some of their own personal narrative designs, finally outlining in pen. Once scanned they then completed with colour on Photoshop before cutting out.

This project could tie in with studies in Science or just be a nice idea to create some galaxies and planets of their own. The first stage is to use sponges to carefully dab on metallic paint space dust and flicks of white paint to create stars. You can then use half cut polystyrene balls and paint to create wonderfully colourful planets - once dry, stick to the space background.

These Sun Stone boxes have been created using small cardboard boxes, collage materials and gems. Art was an important part of Aztec life and items such as jewellery and feather-work, were worn by the Aztec nobility to set them apart from the commoners. The Sun Stone is perhaps the most famous work of Aztec sculptures. I first prepared some boxes and cut a hole in the top - just so the children can use the box to keep pencils or personal belongings in. I then printed come circle templates onto sugar paper and they used this as a base for their sun stone designs. I had a box full of collage papers and they designed a different sun stone for each side of the box and finally the top. They cut them out and glued to the sides of the box and added extra detail with pens and gems for a finishing sparkle!

A batik is a dyed fabric and a really fun way to incorporate designs using inks and liquid wax. I usually begin with some observational drawing of insects (this was my theme but you can do anything onto batiks!) Once this was done i get the children to trace through their insect drawings onto the fabric by placing them under the fabric. A2 is a pretty good size - you want the batiks to be pretty big. Next they add a liquid wax to act as a barrier so their inks do not run when applied. There are some good liquid waxes out there but also some that don't work at all - best to do some research before you buy. Give the wax a day or two to dry and then brush on the liquid inks. Hopefully the wax will stop them from merging/running and you are left with an outline of your animal and some lovely washed ink colours. 

These pretty dream catchers are a lovely project that helps with pupil dexterity - tying knots, threading beads and handling small materials. Start with a paper plate and cut the centre out as well as punching holes around the edge. Once the plate is ready decorate with pens as a first step. Next, weave lots of wool’s and fabrics between the punched holes - it should be like a giant spiders web and does not have to be in any particular order or pattern. Hang some wools with beads and buttons and use pom-poms, buttons to decorate around the plate as well as any other materials you may have. Enjoy!

This is a fairy quick and fun project that can link in with the Stone and Iron Age or cave art. I start by preparing 4 or 5 different colours of air dry clay for the children to use. Just rip into even size chunks and hand out. They then pretend they are creating charms used to protect them or help them through life. Encourage the children to experiment with different shapes and styles and making marks with lots of different tools. Make sure they are not too small as they break once dry and make sure they have holes so you can string them up. Once they have dried and been strung up to make a necklace, I got the children to write about their charms on sugar paper and scrunch it up to look old. Some authentic Stone Age Charms!

Mosaic work is always a favourite with the children I teach. It ties in well with Roman studies or any culture where mosaic art features prominently.  I usually get the children to design a mixture of ideas on an A3 sheet before starting. This helps to eliminate ideas that may not work and prevent them rushing into something before careful consideration. I order lots of mosaic tiles in a mixture of sizes. Some plain, some more gem like but it is up to you. You can prepare some wood boards as the base for the mosaics but I use cut up cardboard boxes - they are thick enough and work just as well. Get the children to use some pva glue to hold the tiles in place and a lolly stick to space out the tiles so that the grout can be added at the end. Enjoy!

To begin with I talk about the Mango or Paisley ornamental design that uses a teardrop-shaped motif. Paisley designs became very popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries, following imports from India, especially in the form of Shawls. I start by preparing some canvas fabric into squares/rectangles etc to be worked on. The first stage is to cut out a mixture of different sized mango's (templates provided) and blue-tac to the plain canvas. The children then sponge on fabric paint and remove the paper templates once dry. They then work with pens to add intricate details as well as sew on beads and buttons. They look great as bunting or you can cut out a back, sew together, stuff and have as a Mango cushion.  

This giant flower installation has been made out of painted egg cartons and lots of string. (around 2000 of them!) The first stage of the installation is to buy lots of egg trays. Any wholesale place has them available fairly cheap. Each cup needs to be carefully cut out - this is a little tricky as the cardboard is tough to cut through. Then the cups need to be painted and the final stage is to string them together by pushing a pencil hole through each egg cup. Tie a small piece of wool inside the cup to stop them sliding to the bottom. You need to purchase a lot of green gardening yarn to hang them floor to ceiling. To hang each string, I used wire baking trays. 

This is a similar projects to the weaving done on looms except this time it is woven bracelets created using drinking straws! The first step is to tape some drinking straws together. I usually cut them to about 15cm - this is enough for a bracelet. to begin the weave, tie the first piece of wool to the straw and start weaving. Make sure the children know how to tie secure knots when attaching the next piece of wool to the last and so on. Keep weaving and pulling the weave nice and tight until you reach the top and tie off on the last straw. The next stage is tricky but requires a long piece of wool to be pushed through each straw (i use a thin stick to help) and then remove the straw ensuring the wool does not come out with it. Once all the straw have been removed, tie the wool that you put through into secure knots (tie every 2 pieces together), compacting the weave together as you do so. I then purchased some small plastic clips to tie on and you have a cool wool bracelet! 

You can make a rain stick using recycled materials and things from around the art room or house. I have boxes that contain scraps of wool, ribbon, tapes etc. and it is great to use this all up! I buy A2 poster tubes for the rain stick as they are about 50 cm long and 3.8 cm in diameter - so a good size. Firstly, mark out where you are going to place the nails, then carefully nail in some flat headed nails around the tube - 25mm nails are what I go for. Once done, get decorating. I get the children to first wrap the tube in washi tapes as this covers the nail heads. Then use ribbons, wool, pipe cleaners to give it a more rainforest finish. Finally use rice or coffee beans to fill and secure the lids with glue otherwise you will end up with rice or beans everywhere! 

These Ink Tree Creatures are a fairly quick and fun project. I get he children to start by adding some masking fluid to the watercolour paper (A3) with a brush. Some swirls and stars mostly. Once dry the wash the background with some inks to resemble the sky or sun setting. They then peel off the masking fluid - always fun! Then comes the most fun part. Using some black ink, wash the ground and then create a thick tree trunk. Use a drinking straw to blow blobs of ink to create branches. leave this to dry and then create some woodland creatures to sit in or around the tree out of coloured card.  

This is a great project to do with the younger pupils, getting them to work on their cutting and dexterity. I provide a huge array of papers - textured, corrugated, sparkly, florescent etc. The pupils cut out some circle and flower shaped templates that they draw around each time to get the shape of their flowers and finally glue a button in the middle. They then started to elaborate and design more interesting and complex flowers. They look great as their own individual vase or even better as a collection of flowers. I used around 600 or their flowers to make 2 giant bunches and they all did a section of the vase as well. Enjoy!

A simple, fun and yum project! I start this project by getting pupils to brainstorm their dream Ice Cream Sundae. It can have anything - Sweets, Chocolate, Biscuits, Doughnuts…go crazy! I then print out a selection of Sundae cups and jars and the pupils stick this to the bottom of an A3 sheet. They have great fun drawing out their mega sundaes and once complete, outline in black marker and colour using permanent pens. The final stage is to watercolour the background. Yum!

This is a fun watercolour and pattern project with fantastic end results! Firstly the children practise creating as many repeated patterns as they can on worksheets. Making sure they are interesting but not over complicated. They then draw out an animal of choice onto A3 watercolour paper and divide up the face and body into curved sections before applying washes of colour. Once dry, outline the sections and animal in a bold permanent pen and get to work on the intricate patterns with a thinner sharpie pen. Enjoy!

This is probably one of my favourite projects to do. I usually hand out a selection of well known paintings - Van Gogh is often a good choice due to the colours. The children first sketch out the painting and then get to ripping up tissue paper to replicate the painting. Thinking about layering colours to get different tones. Use plenty of pva glue as you cover it and you get a very hard and shiny finish. The final touches are a little bit of black sharpie once dry. 

These Pirate Ships combine a mixture of skills and is always a favourite amongst the younger children I teach. The first step is to paint an A3 sheet in hues of blue and green. Once this is dry, rip length-ways and layer the strips onto a background to create a foamy and treacherous sea. I usually provide some pirate ship templates with masts to design and cut out as well as some sails that can be folded and glued to appear more 3D. The final stage is some string for rigging and you have a mixed media pirate ship!   

Working with clay, in any form, is always a favourite amongst children. I often make these makes as it is a simple way to use lots of objects to create a huge variety of marks. Whether you are studying a theme or not, clay masks look great when embellished with marks made from screws, pens, batteries, forks and anything else you can get your hands on. They can be left natural, painted or glazed.   

Always a popular project that looks at the style of art created by aboriginal cultures. Firstly, get the pupils to think about what would make an appropriate image for the art. The aboriginals often depicted indigenous animals as well as parts of nature and landscapes. Then us the end of a paintbrush or wooden sticks to apply the painted dots.

This is a fun and quick project that can be tied into the studies of the artist Frank Bowling. The British artist creates work that looks as if it has been poured, evoking vivid river beds of explosive colours. After looking at his work the pupils simply dab watercolours onto a piece of kitchen towel and watch as the colours soak and bleed together - it is very therapeutic as well. Wait a few hours to dry and you have your very own Frank Bowling piece of art!

These Donuts were painted to tie in with some artist studies. The pupils were looking at the work of Wayne Thiebaud, an American painter famous for his paintings of delicious food such as cakes, pastries, donuts and ice creams. I prepared some templates and let the pupils apply the paint the same way a baker would apply the icing to a cake. They look good enough to eat!

This is a really fun project that can be used when looking at graffiti artists such as Banksy. You can buy graffiti stencils in books from most art stores. They usually come with plenty of stencils that can be ripped out (they have perforated edges) and used over and over again. I’ve had most of these stencils for years and they are still going! Then the pupils use sponges to apply the paint over the stencil and between the gaps to your chosen background. I usually photocopy a brick print onto A2 or A3 recycled paper.

This is a simple and fun project with pleasing results. create a repeated cube pattern of 5 cubes and photocopy to the size you desire. Then get the children to fill their cubes with their own unique patterns and designs. Finally, cut out and tape them all together on the back to create a giant tessellation of cubes!

A simple and effective project to introduce children to the idea of weaving paper. Firstly, get the children to watercolour some paper. I usually provide a strip template as this is easier to cut afterwards. Get them to colour each strip - some bright, some light and a variety of hues. Once dry, cut out and begin to weave, securing the first/top weave with glue. Then carefully push the following weaves tight together making sure to follow the under/over pattern. Secure the last weave with glue and you’re done!

I put together these booklets to help pupils understand colour from a young age. Each page of the booklet gets a little more challenging and enables them to build up knowledge of how to study colour. This includes, colour sums, colour wheels, warm and cool bars, tints and shades and gradients. The final pages consist of jewel and diamond templates for each pupil to show off their new found skills.

To commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians during WW1 each pupil stitched a felt poppy with a button which were then combined to make a large wreath. Poppies were a common sight, especially on the Western Front. They flourished in the soil churned up by the fighting and shelling. Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, are a chance to remember not just those who fought, but what they fought for.

This project can be used to tie in with studies of maps in Geography, to create some fabulous, personalised maps of their own. Start by brainstorming important things such as hobbies, people, holidays and favourite food! Then get them to design an island that incorporates some of their brainstorm ideas - Rainbow Waterfalls, Chocolate Swamps, Pizza Volcano’s and Spaghetti Jungles! Once drawn and outlined use Watercolours to bring them to life

These sculptures are great to make when looking at the work of Barbra Hepworth and Henry Moore. Use some polystyrene blocks as as base for your sculpture or something similar. Cut two pieces of thick wire and push through the polystyrene base and twist into an interesting abstract shape. Next, use a pair of tights and carefully stretch over the wire and secure to bottom of the base. You can still move the wire to your desired shape. Paint with a white primer and once dry paint in your desired colours and patterns. Enjoy!

As a Year group, pupils discussed what a better future would look like in a world free from discrimination and the changes they would like to see made. They considered equality, diversity, respect, cooperation, togetherness and identity and all produced a section. It was then taped together to produce this wonderful piece of combined artwork.

An alternative to buying a new Christmas Tree each year - make one out of rubbish! By using all recycled items - milk cartons, shoes boxes, biscuit packaging etc. you can create an amazing tree that is friendlier for the environment. Add some glitter/sparkle paper for the finishing Christmas touch.

These collage pieces are similar to the tonal collage pieces on the site…except in colour. The pupils draw an outline of their geometric shape with its shadow and use coloured sheets of tone to create the collage. Make sure the pupils think about contrasting colours for the shape and the background and the neatness of their collage pieces.

A fun and quick project with lovely results. Get pupils to tissue paper a background using offcuts, squares, circles, whatever you have! The pupils can choose light colours or dark but try to get them to think ahead as to what colour they want to draw their self portrait. Once dry they can use paint markers, permanent pens to draw themselves. Mirrors are always handy to help with the process!

This project was used to tie in with creative writing lessons where the pupils were writing poems about the moon. A simple a quick lesson, get the pupils to draw circles using a compass and the use a mixture of white and black paint to fill in their moons. Whilst the paint is still wet, use pen lids and glue lids to twist into the paint to create the illusion of craters on their moons. Finally add some stars with white paint and stick on the final moon poems.

This is a great way to link Science and Art! Get the children inspired by shapes and textures found in cells and bacteria growth by showing examples of petri dishes. Then get them to glue small materials such as beads, pipe cleaners, cotton buds, straws and felt into science petri dishes. Make sure they think about how they could manipulate these materials to look like a growth of bacteria and living organisms. Then come up with some names…perhaps - Blueblob Jellyspongus…

These giant letters have been created collaboratively by small groups of pupils, working together to design and style each letter. They carefully decided what colours would work best for the background whilst also thinking about the best options to ensure the letter would stand out. They then used squares of tissue paper and lots of pva glue to bring them to life. This is a great project to introduce font and hand drawn typography - my favourite type of art!

These Cherry Blossoms look like authentic Japanese art and are easy and fun to do! The first step is to tape around the edges (and a piece in the middle to write some calligraphy) on some long cut watercolour paper. Washi or masking tape is fine. Next wash the background in some light watercolours to create a sunset or early evening sky. Leave a section blank for a setting sun or moon. Using a straw, blow black ink upwards to create branches or equally use a brush to create the branches as well. Once dry apply pink and white dabs of paint all over the branches for the cherry blossoms. Finally peel off all the tape and using pens for Japaneses calligraphy the pupils can write their name. I added a twig at the top of the sheets to hang. Enjoy!

Another simple and fun art project relating to Japanese art. Start by creating some 3D Koi carp from a template. Cut, fold and staple the correct parts. To get the unique patterns of each Koi and marbling inks to pots of water. Holding the Koi templates with a peg, carefully submerge into the water and the marbling inks will bring the fish to life! do this again if you want more colours to your fish. Leave these to dry. On a separate sheet, wash some aqua watercolours with a tape around edge and peel off once dry. Finally, stick the Koi to the sheet, add some eyes and some Japanese calligraphy.

An illuminated letter was usually the first letter of a page or paragraph. It was always enlarged and the images used to enhance the letters included animals, plants, and mythological creatures. First get the pupils to look at examples of illuminated letters and discuss the features and how ornate they are. Next, get them to plan their own letter on an A3 sheet and once they are happy they can draw out neat and go around them in sharpies. Finally use watercolours to bring them to life with some gold and silver pens for finishing touches. They look good mounted onto some black card.

These cool skateboard decks are a simple and fun way to work on graphic design skills. I put together an A3 worksheet and photocopied on onto thick 380 gsm card. It has space to work on some ideas for their skateboard deck and once the pupils were happy they drew it out on the board. They then coloured using permanent marker pens, cut out and put some foam board under the wheels to make look slightly 3D. I’d love to see some of these designs in a skate shop! Happy designing!

This ‘Rainbow Fall’ is a lovely hanging installation made by a whole year group of pupils. They each wrapped poster tubes in washi tapes and lots of ribbons of wool, pipe cleaners and fabrics. They were then connected together and you get this amazing flow of colour hanging from the ceiling.

These cacti and succulents have been created using watercolours and sharpie pens. We first used imagery to help draw out a pot and a mixture of cacti onto an A3 sheet. The pupils then outlined in sharpie, adding extra patterns and details to the pot. The final stage was to use a mixture of bright watercolour washes to bring them to life. I think you’ll agree, they look fab!

This is a fun project that creates the illusion that you are at the bottom of the sea! You need to use permanent pens on a plastic wallet to draw your sea creatures and sea bed. place some white card inside so they can see what they are drawing. Once this is done replace the white card inside with a piece of black card into the wallet to make it dark. Then draw and cut out a torch on card with a large white beam and use this to light up your sea scene! I usually start the project by getting the pupils to plan their designs first. Then you have an amazing ‘light up’ deep sea illusion.

This is a fun project using lots of fun designs and patterns as well as incorporating some symmetry. I make a playing card template and the pupils design their card, choosing to add the image symmetrical as well. A fun project!