Year 2: Art and design skills

In this collection of lessons children learn and develop their skills in: design, drawing, craft, painting and art appreciation; replicating the recognisable crockery of Clarice Cliff, exploring tone through shading, developing their skills in weaving and the manipulation of clay, experimenting with brush strokes

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Art and design > Key stage 1 > Art and design skills

Please note

This unit has now been replaced by the Year 2 unit Painting and mixed media: Life in colour. Kapow no longer updates these lessons, and they may not reflect the national curriculum or current guidance. They remain a permanent part of your subscription and will continue to be available for reference and use. We recommend that you explore the new versions of the lessons.

Choose your lesson (teach in any order)

Introduction to sketchbooks

This video introduces the sketchbook - a must for all artists to record their ideas, inspiration and a place to practise and refine their skills

Lesson 1: Craft: Clay

Developing their sculpting and modelling skills, children experiment with using different objects to create interesting textures on the surface of a clay tile

Lesson 2: Craft: Weaving a picture

Children learn the craft of weaving, overlapping coloured strips of paper to create a checkerboard, then selecting a shape to overlay onto the weave and decorating

Lesson 3: Design: Clarice Cliff plates (Original scheme)

Using a paper plate, children recreate their own designs of Clarice Cliffs ‘Circle Tree’ plate, using bright colours to paint circles and finishing by using black paint and a straw to blow a tree design

Lesson 4: Shading

Working in the style of Nancy McCroskey’s mural, ‘Suite in Black, White and Gray’, children draw six boxes, filling each with a line that starts at one edge and finishes at another, then experiment with tone by shading the different areas they have made

Lesson 5: Painting: Roller coaster ride

Whilst designing a roller coaster ride, children develop their painting skills; working to ensure that they use the right amount of paint, hold the brush correctly and use single, sweeping strokes

Lesson 6: Learning about... Drawing for fun

Making drawing feel achievable to all abilities, through identifying the basic shapes within images and objects to be drawn

Assess your pupils

Assessment resources for use at the start of the unit to assess where pupils are in their learning and at the end of the unit to assess progress. Go to assessment resources