A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Insects
Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring insects. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.
Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the insect.
When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.
Drawing Exercises
Have the children draw in a quiet room, with the video on the whiteboard.
Stop the video at a chosen frame and use your voice to direct their drawing. Choose words which relate to the imagery, for example you might decide to focus their attention on vertical lines, so you might choose words like: line, growth, upward, downward, fall… or you might choose to attract their attention to the energy of a wave or the curve of an animals back. Think carefully about the words you use – they don’t have to be used in sentences – you can speak lists.
Each sketchbook response might take just 3 to 5 minutes, then move on to another still. Create a sense of momentum.
Direct pupils to use a chosen medium. You might like to start with soft pencil or handwriting pen.
Talking Points: Making Drawings With Your Whole Body – Molly Haslund
A collection of imagery and sources designed to introduce children to the work of Danish artist Molly Haslund.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*
This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.
The Circle Project by Molly Haslund
Teacher’s Notes
“Molly Haslund ventures out into the city wearing grey: a grey suit, grey socks and grey shoes so that she blends in with the tarmac and the pavement. She carries a huge pair of compasses much taller than herself. She stops somewhere and starts drawing a white circle on the ground. She completes the first circle and then moves the pair of compasses and starts drawing a new circle that overlaps the first one. She draws a third circle and stands in her grey shoes in the middle of the circle for a moment before snapping the pair of compasses together and moving on.” https://www.mollyhaslund.com/circles-2013-2
“… The focus is on the physical action, on the movement of the circles, and the patterns emerging and disappearing again – and of course the effect grows with the number of participants. on the other hand, if you want to draw alone, you can just withdraw a little from the rest. A bit like on the dance floor.” Molly Haslund
Watch the video with the pupils, and look at the images below. Find questions to prompt discussion at the end of this resource.
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2015, New York, Peekskill Project #6, Hudson Valley MOCA, Photo by Joe Orangias
Circles (2013), Molly Haslund, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2014, Art Week, Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Circles, Molly Haslund, 2014, Art Week, Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Photo by Matilde Haaning
Questions to Ask Children
How would you feel if you came across these circles in your street or playground, without knowing who had made them or why? What would you do? Would they change the way you move?
How do you think Molly, the artist, chooses where to make her circles?
How could you make similar circles in your playground, using chalk tied to sticks?
How would the circles you make join up with the circles your friends make?
What would other pupils in your school think if they discovered your circles? What do you think they would do?
What other shapes could you make with your body in the playground? Would you need tools?
If music played would you make different shapes? How would the shapes be different?
A collection of embedded google maps at chosen locations to help you explore architecture through drawing and discussion.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
This resource is free to access and is not part of AccessArt membership.
Navigate around the building to explore.
Draw from different angles and perspectives
Invite children to make drawings of different timed length: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes.
Try various challenges:
Make a drawing in one continuous line.
Make a drawing using only straight lines.
Make a drawing using different line weights.
Make a drawing using charcoal, pen, ink and nib etc
A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
This resource is free to access and is not part of the AccessArt membership.
Drone Footage Over Urban Landscape
Use the film below as source material to enable an exploration of drawing architecture and urban landscapes. You can also try to find drone footage of your own environment, or that of areas relating to projects you are covering in school.
Pause the footage at points which catch your eye and invite the children to make timed drawings – 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes or 1 minute.
Vary the drawing materials you use and work in sketchbooks or sheets of paper of different sizes and textures. You may also like to make multiple line drawings over one page – each with a different colour or line weight, to describe different pause points in the same film to capture a moving landscape.
A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
These resources are free to access and are not a part of AccessArt Membership.
The Natural World
Use the film below as source material to enable the children to draw the natural world.
You can either choose to stop the video, and draw from a collection of paused images, or you can also choose to ask the children to work from the moving image.
Find drawing exercises below to help your drawing exploration.
Drawing Exercises
Have the children draw in a quiet room, with the video on the whiteboard.
Stop the video at a chosen frame and use your voice to direct their drawing. Choose words which relate to the imagery, for example you might decide to focus their attention on vertical lines, so you might choose words like: line, growth, upward, downward, fall… or you might choose to attract their attention to the energy of a wave or the curve of an animals back. Think carefully about the words you use – they don’t have to be used in sentences – you can speak lists.
Each sketchbook response might take just 3 to 5 minutes, then move on to another still. Create a sense of momentum.
Direct pupils to use a chosen medium. You might like to start with soft pencil or handwriting pen.
A collection of imagery and sources which you can use to prompt drawing in schools and community groups.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
These resources are free to access and are not a part of AccessArt Membership.
Birds
Use this collection of films as source material for pupils exploring birds. In the first instance you might want to pause the videos as suitable points to enable the children to carefully look at the main forms and details. Try to create a sense of momentum – for example you might pause the video 4 times and ask the pupils to make a 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute and 4 minute drawing at each pause.
Encourage close and slow looking by talking as they draw – use your voice to attract their attention to features of the bird.
When pupils are more experienced, you can also try getting them to make their drawings as the videos play – making quick gestural sketches.
A collection of imagery and sources designed to encourage children to explore the work of Paul Klee.
Please note that this page contains links to external websites and has videos from external websites embedded. At the time of creating, AccessArt checked all links to ensure content is appropriate for teachers to access. However external websites and videos are updated and that is beyond our control.
Please let us know if you find a 404 link, or if you feel content is no longer appropriate.
We strongly recommend as part of good teaching practice that teachers watch all videos and visit all websites before sharing with a class. On occasion there may be elements of a video you would prefer not to show to your class and it is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure content is appropriate. Many thanks.
*If you are having issues viewing videos it may be due to your schools firewall or your cookie selection. Please check with your IT department.*
This resource is free to access and is not a part of AccessArt membership.
Watercolour Paintings by Paul Klee
Take a close look at these paintings. Use the questions to talk about them as a class.
Klee was born in 1879 in Switzerland. When he was 35 he visited Tunisia in Africa, where his experience of the light and colours of the landscapes and architecture helped awaken his interest in colour.
He became less interested in painting exactly what he saw and in fact from 1915 onwards he never again worked from a model. Instead, he became interested in painting the colours around him, letting them detach themselves from the objects the colours were on. In this way his worked moved towards Abstraction.
He became interested in creating fantastical worlds, full of symbols, shapes, colour and line.
He took his inspiration from the world around him, and his imaginative response to the world, and also from poetry, music and literature.
Sometimes his work was serious and meditative, other times it was full of humour. He also loved the sounds of words and phrases and the titles of works were often very important to Klee.
Battle scene from the funny and fantastic opera “The Seafarers” (1923). Painting by Paul Klee. Original from the Kunstmuseum Basel Museum
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
What do you think is happening?
How does the title change the painting?
Why do you think Klee painted in blocks of colour?
How does the painting make you feel?
The Firmament Above the Temple (1922) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
Can you see the landscape and the sky? How has Klee painted them?
How does the painting make you feel?
Temple Gardens (1920) by Paul Klee. Original from The MET Museum
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
How does this landscape make you feel?
If you were there, in the painting, how would you feel?
Tell me about the colours. Why do you think Klee choose these colours?
Persian Nightingales (1917) by Paul Klee. Original portrait painting from The Art Institute of Chicago.
Questions to Ask Children
Describe what you see.
What materials do you think Klee used?
Can you see two letters?
The R and the N stand for Rose and Nightingale. Can you spot the rose and the Nightingales in the painting?
How does this painting make you feel?
How do you think the painter felt when he painted it?
This is an animation of one of Klee’s paintings.
Questions to Ask Children
How do you feel watching the animation?
What kind of world has Klee/the animator created?
If you could animate one of the paintings above, how would you bring it to life? What would you make it do?
In this video Klee’s paintings are shown alongside music.
Questions to Ask Children
How does the music change the way you look at the paintings?
Do you think Klee would have liked this video (remember Klee made his paintings at a time when there were very few films).
The AccessArt Drawing Journey for Primary Children: Aims and Intent
What Is A Drawing Tool?
What Is The Purpose of Drawing?
What Is Drawing?
Remembrance Day Peg Soldiers
What We Like About This Resource….
“It’s great to see a different approach to thinking about remembrance day. These peg soldiers are a refreshing alternative to artwork inspired by poppies. The processes involved encourage children to focus on fine motor skills: wrapping embroidery thread around the peg and creating small detailed clothes and helmets. These dolls look particularly effective when standing as a collection and would make a poignant alternative to a standard display board” – Rachel, AccessArt
“This resource is a lovely example of how words and text can generate ideas, which can then be transferred to paper. Working in this way with children is a great way fo them to engage with literature – and to have an individual response. Try reading poems out loud to a class and ask them to list all the images that spring to mind before exploring those images through drawing”. – Rachel, AccessArt
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Working with Dogwood
What We Like About This Resource….
“It’s lovely to see a resource that centres on a particular material and the scope it offers. I particularly like how the dogwood is used here to make wooden beads. This idea could be developed further by looking at how wood has been used to make jewelry throughout history and within many different cultures.” – Rachel, AccessArt.
