Lesson 1: The natural world

This activity revisits learning from Art and design, Year 5, Painting and mixed media: Portraits to help the children recall key knowledge.

Remind children that in Year 5 they explored how artists use portraits to communicate ideas about identity, personality and emotion. They experimented with different materials, compositions and techniques in their sketchbooks before creating a final piece. Explain that they will use the same process in this unit as they explore and refine watercolour techniques.

Ask children to flip back to the work they created during the Year 5 Portraits unit. Alternatively, ask them to look back at their entire learning journey in their sketchbooks. 

Ask children to work with a partner to identify:

• Two ways the sketchbook helped them prepare for the final piece.

• One example of an idea or technique that might have changed or improved during the creative process.

Invite pairs to share their ideas before discussing as a class.