Activity ideas for younger students

• Take students outdoors to collect leaves, sticks, stones and other natural materials. Working in small groups, invite students to create three shapes — a line, a circle and a spiral — by repeating their selected materials. They may adjust, swap or otherwise refine their patterns as they go. Lead a discussion about whether patterns found in nature can be considered ‘art’.
• Provide students with percussive instruments like bells or clapping sticks to explore rhythm. Practice simple ABAB patterns (e.g., clap-boom-clap-boom) then encourage them to create more complex patterns. Invite students to invent dance moves that complement the rhythms.
• Provide students with a range of found objects — all suitable for painting and printing — in multiples. Have them arrange the objects to create a three-dimensional pattern. Then, students can paint the objects and use them to print their pattern onto paper or fabric. Encourage experimentation by changing either the objects used or the colours applied.
• Using clay, have students create sculptures of trees. Display the sculptures collectively to represent a forest and prompt discussion about how grouping individual items changes meaning. Extend this by having students create sculptures of people and explore how groups form crowds.
• Begin with students drawing circles of varying sizes and colours with oil pastels, focusing on ABAB patterns (such as ‘big-small-big-small’ or ‘red-blue-red-blue’). Then, students can use circular sponge stampers to print with watercolours over their drawings, experimenting with different colours to create variation.

Activity ideas for older students

• Students should document and analyse the patterns in their surroundings through photography or quick observational sketches. Encourage exploration of both natural and built environments — from leaves and brickwork to tiles and woven fabrics. Students can annotate these patterns with notes on symmetry, scale, rhythm and so on.
• Cast shadows onto a wall using simple objects or shapes cut from paper and a bright light source. Students can manipulate and rearrange the items to create dynamic, shifting shadow patterns, exploring concepts of repetition and rhythm in space. They might document their work through photography or sketching.
• Students design and construct modular artworks by repeating a single form or shape. This could include folded paper, wire forms or interlocking cardboard components.

Describe

To give a detailed account of the features of something by identifying and communicating what can be seen, heard, felt or otherwise sensed. In relation to works of art, this includes visual elements such as colour, shape, line, texture and subject matter, as well as other perceptual qualities such as sound, movement, scale, spatial presence and materiality.

Analyse

To examine the parts and features of something in detail to understand how they work together. In relation to works of art, this involves breaking down visual and sensory elements — such as colour, composition, texture, sound and materials — and considering how they work together to create meaning or effect. It also includes identifying techniques, processes and relevant contextual influences that shape the work.

Interpret

To draw conclusions about the possible meaning of an artwork, considering the artist’s intent and the viewer’s own ideas and feelings.

Evaluate

To make a judgement about the quality, effectiveness or impact of something, based on criteria or evidence. In relation to works of art, this includes assessing how successfully the artist has used materials, techniques and elements to convey ideas or achieve an intended effect, as well as considering the work’s originality, impact or relevance.