Austhorpe Primary School

Session 1
The children were encouraged to use a variety of tools to draw with in a free manner. They made marks with each hand, then both hands, blind drawings and drawing without taking the pencil from the paper. They made drawings by making marks, then rubbing out some of them. They drew pictures from memory.

Session 2
The 24 pupils went on a bear hunt in the local woods with their teacher and the artist, drawing, taking photographs, making bark rubbings and collecting found materials. Back in class, the children tried drawing trees with sticks and used sponges to make leaf prints. These drawings concentrated on shape and texture.

Session 3
The teacher prompted recall of the woodland walk by showing photographs and asking questions. Children talked about the bears – they had not actually seen them – but imagined they were there! They painted large-scale bears using sponges, roller sticks and corks. They made footprint drawings with paint on
long rolls of paper, as well as small pastel drawings of the walk to the woods. The drawing and discussion suggested impressive recall of their experiences.

Session 4
The children drew around their feet onto previous drawings to create patterned footprints of the walk in the woods, and added bear paw prints using potatoes and sticks as well as some cut-out footprints to create a layered drawing.

Session 5
This activity was continued in another session, with children working cooperatively and being sensitive to the work done by others previously. All the activities were completed on MDF panels to give some permanence to the work.

The children enjoyed the variety of drawing experiences, and the series of linked drawing activities resulted in a finished collaborative work. Drawing related to a number of areas on the early years curriculum.