Welcome to AccessArt: Warm-ups
Just like in other subjects such as PE, warming up is an essential part of an art lesson or creative workshop.
Dedicating the first 5-10 minutes of a session to a warm-up can help learners focus in, transition to a quieter space, practise new materials or ways of working and set the scene for new projects.
As well as being beneficial for the learner, warm-up activities can be helpful for you, as a facilitator, to clarify the aims of your art session by considering which activity would be most useful to learners.
dip your toes in...
Begin by exploring these AccessArt favourites.
Use these simple and effective warm-up activities, designed to help learners tune into a creative mindframe.
show me what you see
Ten Minutes, Five Times a Week
prompt cards
Inventing Your Own Warm Ups
Once you’ve had a go at the AccessArt warm-up activities, you may feel confident enough to design your own warm-up.
When devising a warm-up activity, consider the following:
-
Work backwards: what is the aim of the main session? The outcome of the warm up should connect to the beginning of the main drawing session. Is the session about a material, a technique, or a concept?
-
How will you guide learners through the exercise?
-
Consider potential stumbling blocks, both in the main session and in the warm up. Can you split the activities up into smaller stages to help overcome these?
-
Think about where the learners are at NOW in terms of experience. What new experiences would you like them to have?
-
Keep it simple, small, short – don’t overload a warm-up exercise.
-
Do it yourself: what is it like to do what you’re asking them to do?
-
Leave time at the end for reflection as a group to share experiences.
