Teaching Resources
Creative learning activities for children aged 0 – 12.
The arts not only ignites young imaginations, but it can also be fundamental in childhood development and teaches young people skills such as problem solving and critical thinking! On this page, you’ll find a selection of evidenced based play ideas for children, arts activities and resources for teachers.
2020 Educator PD with Samantha Hughes
Join Award Winning Artist, Samantha Hughes for a three-part illustration workshop where she explores characters, colours, composition and more! Samantha Hughes delights in making mischief, of one kind and another. She writes and illustrates in a sunny studio in...
AWESOME Arts Club
Activity #10 Fantasy Nature Collage
Collage doesn’t have to mean paper and glue! You can combine all sorts of found objects and photograph them to create amazing fantasy worlds. Today in the AWESOME Arts Club we’ll be creating fanciful and unique landscapes out of natural materials. STEP ONE: Raid...
Activity #9 Farmyard Finger Painting
Have a look at your fingertips and see all the different swirls. That is your very own unique finger print. No two are the same! Today we’ll use our unique finger prints to make art. STEP ONE: Cover your finger tips and thumb tips with non-toxic ink or paint. Create...
Activity #8 Photo Treasure Hunt
Explore your living room and back yard to find and photograph treasure in your very own home! Today we'll be touring our homes with a photographic treasure hunt. Try taking some photos very close up, far away, at unusual angles, and consider posing your items to look...
Activity #7 Acrostic Poems
Do you know what season we are in? Djeran is the Nyoongar season of April and May when the cooler weather begins. Typically, Djeran means cooler nights, red flowering gums, and bright pink and orange sunsets. Today we’ll be writing acrostic poems inspired by the...
Activity #6 Dancing Doodles
STEP ONE: Listen to “Gopher Mambo” by Yma Sumac (https://spoti.fi/39uphKz). Doodle, squiggle and draw shapes and lines around your page as you listen to the song. Does the music inspire long thick lines, thin jagged zig zags, curly pathways, or a combination of...
Activity #5 Trashcan Composition
Did you know that you can make music out of things in your bin? Percussion is music you make by hitting objects (or yourself) with your hands or another object. Today we’ll be experimenting with rhythm and composing percussion songs out of things you can find in your...
Activity #4 Olympic Statues
A tableau is when you pose your body and freeze like a statue to tell a story. Today we’ll be making tableaux (frozen pictures) of different types of sport. Don’t forget to stretch before you try this at home! STEP ONE: Brainstorm your favourite types of sport and...
Activity #3 Eye Spy Poetry
Poetry is a careful selection of words to make the reader imagine something or feel a certain way. Today we’ll be writing short poems about what we can see from our windows using the 5 senses and our imaginations. STEP ONE: Look out your window and select FOUR...
Activity #2 Picasso Portraits
Have you ever tried to draw someone from every angle all at once? Pablo Picasso was a famous painter who helped start the cubist movement. Cubism aimed to show portraits from lots of different viewpoints in a flat image. Because of this he often painted pictures of...
Activity #1 Tea Stain Doodles
Sometimes it can be hard to know how to start an artwork. Why not start with a mistake? Putting something unexpected on the page makes it easier to get started and get creative. Today we’ll be doodling around tea stains and creating something imaginative out of...
Activities
Understanding Perspective
Download the PDF here 1) Using a pencil and a ruler draw a horizon line in the middle of your page , a small x in the middle of the horizon to use as a vanishing point. 2) Using a pencil and a ruler draw 2 lines intersecting at your vanishing point to use as your...
Making an Emotions Mask + Template
Download the PDF here Materials - Mask template photocopied on to A3 card - Scissors - Sharp lead pencil - Selection of various colours of card (at least 4-6 different colours) - push pins/ split pins 1) Using your scissors, carefully cut out the different shapes from...
Interview with an Artwork
Download the PDF here Sometimes we don’t understand an artwork, or a performance completely the first time we interact with it. You need to ask yourself and the artwork a few questions along the way to fully appreciate it. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a little...
Creating an Optical Illusion
Download the PDF here Materials - 2x A4 Paper - 1x A3 Paper - Scissors - Glue - Craft Materials (we used markers) 1) Get into pairs and each create a separate picture on an A4 piece of paper angled in a portrait direction. Your pictures should be completely different...
Creating a 3D Illusion
Download the PDF here Materials - Paper - Pencil - Ruler - Coloured markers - Mug 1) Using a pencil,trace around your hand and the bottom of a mug so that you have a circle on the page. 2) Using your ruler trace straight lines across the page avoiding the traced hand...
Create Your Own Story Cubes + Symbols
Download the PDF here 1) Copy 4 story cube templates and cut out along the straight lines (You can simplify this activity by separating into a group of 4 and making once dice each) 2) Select your favourite 24 Story cube symbols from your completed worksheet and draw...