Spring Syllabus    

January – March 2026

1. Clay sculpture, create a plate of your favourite food, learning different clay building techniques.

2. Using acrylic paint, children will paint their meals, experimenting with colour mixing and texture.

3. Mandalas, using L.P vinyl records, the children will use acrylic pens to create their own rhythmical, circular designs.

4. Children will illustrate the poem, “the Green man” written by a homeless person, on A3 watercolour paper, using watercolour paint.

5. Create a Poster about something you believe in, children will use their sketch books to brainstorm ideas, before drawing their ideas on A3 card.

6. The children will experiment with warm and cold and complementary colours to find the most effective colours and design that will complement their posters.

7. Inspired by the local artist Dan Baldwin, children will use a transferring technique to create their own canvases.

8. Self-portrait drawings, using plastic mirrors, children will study their faces, learning shapes and proportions.

9. Black and white collages, using vintage imagery the children will create a unique A3 collage composition.

10. POP-UP animals, combine collage and drawing techniques, a composition inspired by Andy Warhol’s ‘Endangered Species.’

11. Graffiti Art, viewing and discussing graffiti artists and the social messages they share. Design your own ‘tag’ name.

    Second part of Autumn term syllabus 2025

    Starting the week commencing the 3rd of November.

         Week 1

     Infants: Spectacular fireworks and rainy days.

    Using two art materials that don’t mix! We will experiment with oil pastels and watercolour to develop an effective resist technique.

              Juniors: will discover the range of tones using different grades of pencils by completing a tonal drawing of a skull or a lion’s face.

       Week 2

    Themed paintings, inspired by choosing picture cards (person, place, and emotion), children will create a composition that uses the cards as a starting point for their drawing, which will be continued in the following class.

       Week 3

    Learning about the artist, Marc Chagall, 1887-1985, a visionary artist who used symbolism in his paintings to tell surreal stories, exploring universal themes about love, joy, hope, and dreams, the children will finish and paint last week’s composition, creating their own masterpiece, inspired by the artist.

       Week 4

    A fun and interactive project, creating Chameleons that move and change colour!

       Week 5

    Using air-drying clay, children will create their own fossils by making imprints in the clay and then using ink on top to create unique prints.

     Week 6

    Christmas collages, using an exciting range of images, children will create small festive collages that can be used for Christmas cards.

    Week 7

    A fun last project before Christmas: design a Christmas Snake. Children will prepare their designs by creating an initial diagram with key principles, colour, shape, texture, pattern, and value.

    Autumn Term 2025

    Starting the week commencing the 8th of September.

    Week 1

    In the Infants, the children will begin by getting to know each other with some fun warm-up drawing exercises in their sketchbooks. After that, using black paper and chalk pastels, the children will illustrate a story that we will read to the class: Oliver Who Would Not Sleep.

    In the Juniors, the children will be introduced to perspective, working towards illustrating a path leading off into a vanishing point inspired by a personal journey or memory.

    Week 2

    Colour the World

    Working on damp watercolour paper, the children will experiment with inks to create beautiful abstract compositions inspired by artist Janet Skates.

    Week 3

    The Royal Pavilion

    On large black sugar paper, the children will draw around a stencil of the Royal Pavilion. Then, using bright chalk pastels, the children will create a fantastic, bold silhouette of Brighton’s most iconic architecture.

    Week 4

    Round Gardens

    Working on round paper, the children will have the opportunity to design and create their own exotic garden using flower printing and realistic moss for them to decorate with.

    Week 5

    Autumn Silhouettes

    Recognising the changing of the seasons, the children will work on creating a beautiful glowing silhouette painting using coffee filters, ink, and acrylic paint.

    Week 6

    Mono Printing

    Using watercolour pens on tin foil, the children will have a chance to try their hand at mono printing.

    Week 7

    Halloween

    The Infants will experiment with both charcoal and chalk pastel to create a Halloween-themed composition.

    The Juniors can choose from a selection of tonal and design projects to create either a realistic or Day of the Dead skull.

    Second part of summer term 2025

    1. Discover the techniques of resistant painting, using tape and oil pastels. The children will design vases on paper or create a painting to experiment using this process.

    2. Drawing with coloured tissue paper, the infants will work on a large piece of A2 paper to create a torn paper garden. / Juniors will create collage from fashion magazines, inspired by the contemporary, Italian artist Naomi Vona.

    3. Canvas paintings inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the American painter who rose to success in the early 1980’s. The children will be presented with a series of images of the artist’s paintings and create their own small canvas painting inspired by his works, using watercolour pencils.

    4. T-shirts – the children will design their own t-shirts using fabric pens and stencils.

    5. Painting with dots, exploring artists who used dots instead of paint strokes.

    The infants will look at Aboriginal artworks, while the juniors will be looking at Pointillism, a post-impressionist art style used by artists such as Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

    6. Rain sticks – creating tube art from cardboard tubes and decorating them using acrylic paint pens.

    7. Clay and plasticine sculptures.

    Summer Syllabus 2025

    1. Printing with Oil Pastel
      Children will fold a piece of paper in half, blocking out one side with oil pastel. Once refolded, they will use a pencil to draw and design their hand, allowing the pastel to transfer onto the other side—creating a beautiful, colourful print.
    2. Paper Cup Storytelling (Juniors)
      Children will brainstorm a story in their sketchbooks, then decorate a paper cup using watercolour pencils to illustrate their story. A second cup will serve as a viewing window, mimicking the effect of a traditional zoetrope.
    3. Self-Portraits
      Using a mirror, children will draw realistic self-portraits with both soft and hard pencils. They will then create an abstract version from memory using bright oil pastels. Juniors will also have the chance to follow an anime-style tutorial for their portrait.
    4. Collage of Me
      Inspired by local collage artist Maria Rivans, children will collage over an image of their own face, creating a bold and dramatic composition.
    5. Drawing Without a Pencil
      Children will use carbon paper to transfer their image, then bring it to life by drawing the design using wire.
    6. Stamp Making
      Children will design and carve their own rubber stamps, which they will then use to create unique prints.

                                              Artyfacts Summer 2024

    1. Watercolour still life drawings and paintings of fruit. Observing colour, tones, and textures.
    •  Introducing the children to impressionist painting. Studying the artist Claude Monet (1840 -1926) and Berthe Morisot (1841-1950) and looking at Monet’s water lilies series as inspiration, the children will use oil pastels and paint to create a finished piece.
    • Miniature paintings, children will use small, fine brushes, to inspire their own impressionist paintings.
    • Sea glass mosaics. Sorting through stunning, translucent, and worn pieces of coloured glass, the children will make bespoke mosaics on wooden panels.
    • Painting puzzle blocks. The artist will create two compositions and draw and colour them onto each side of 16 wooden cubes. These will be interactive works as the artwork will be able to be disassembled and rearranged to create different artworks.

    6. Free form Clay works, each artist will be given a large slice of clay and a box, once being taught the basic techniques of working with the clay, it is open to the child what they do with them. This could be an object they have made in the box or an installation.                                          HALF TERM   27TH -31ST MAY

    JANUARY 2024 – ARTYFACTS NEW YEAR SYLLABUS

    1. Reversed drawing using oil pastel.
    2. Building structures using tinfoil and cardboard.
    3. Abstract designs using tape and liquid watercolour paint.
    4. Clay, the children will use natural found objects to press into the clay and then use this as a means of printmaking, creating abstract designs.
    5. Fireworks and stary nights, using salt on top of their artwork, artists will witness the reaction and transformation of their abstract watercolour paintings.

    Artyfacts November-December 2023

    We will be focusing on STORYTELLING for the second half of term.

    We will be learning through creating our own personal, visual stories and also listening to other people’s stories and interpreting them, whilst experimenting with a range of art materials.

    Storytelling helps young learners in several ways. It’s a vital part of brain development and helps in the development of:

    • Imagination
    • Language
    • Emotions
    • Relationships
    WeekFocus
    1Freestyle pencil drawings on A2 paper. Draw a story about anything you like, imagined or real. Something you have done or want to do – try and include feelings in your drawing, without using any words.
    2The Big Green Giant. I will share a poem with the class written especially for the art class by a homeless person. The children will use the poem to create a watercolour painting inspired by the poem.
    3Choosing 3 playing cards from a packet of visual story telling cards (a verb, a noun, and an adjective) the children will create a story using the cards as the basis for their picture.
    4The children will close their eyes and relax whilst listening to an experiential story of flight and transformation and once their eyes are open, in silence, will retell their experience on paper using chalk pastels.
    5Decorate giant vases. The art of storytelling decorated on pots and vases has allowed many ancient civilizations to record unique and revealing narratives of their lives, reinforcing cultural beliefs, and recording of history. Today the children will tell their stories on 2D vases using water colour and oil pastels.
    6Reading ‘The Cat and The Bird: A children’s book inspired by the artist Paul Klee’ Artyfacts will learn about the artist and use the inspiration to create their own unique painting.
    7Christmas snow globes! Making miniature plasticine stories inside a jar.

    ARTYFACTS ART ACADEMY – AUTUMN TERM 2022

    1. Artyfacts will be starting the term with a few warm up games, looking at the visual language, how to express feelings, memories and textures using patterns, shapes and symbols.

    A. Draw around your hand. Each finger represents a feeling or symbol of something you identify with. a) happiness b) excitement. c) fear d) confusion e) sadness.

    B. Draw around your hand, this time, fill each finger with a different Texture. a) spiky, b) smooth, c) sticky d) fluffy e) sandy.

    C. THE TRAVELING DRAWING. This project is designed to help introducing the children to the concept that art work can be unpredictable, often working over mistakes that can give us new ideas that we had not planned and also making art with others as a team.

    D. After games the children will be given their sketch books and spend time sharing visual stories about their holidays with in the groups. * The juniors will be given comic strips to create their stories.

    2. IF YOU HAD A SHOP………. Artyfacts artists will design a paper bag, using acrylic pens, showing the type of shop they might have when they are older. Ideas about the name, logo and design of their shop will first be worked out in their sketch books.

    3. INK AND MASKING TAPE, the children will create patterns on A3 paper, discovering how to block colour and let colour blend and bleed, creating a finished abstract painting.

    4. CREATE AN UNDERWATER SCENE, (ship wrecks, mermaids, fish, sea creatures, shells, sea weed) Using the same principles as last week, these will be blocked out using oil pastels and cut out labels and then, covering them in a

    blue, green and yellow ink to create an underwater wash, once the tape is removed …. The objects underwater will be revealed!

    5. ISLANDS ON A PLATE USING CLAY. Each child will create an island on a plate and paint the ocean around it inspired by their underwater worlds.

    6. TISSUE PAPER INSTEAD OF PAINT!  Create a picture of a sunset reflected in the water.

    7. HALLOWEEN. *Using water colour pencils, create a neighbourhood celebrating Halloween. What will you wear? what will your friends be wearing?

    *Junior years will design a skull using stencils and collage, inspired by Mexico’s day of the dead.

    HALF TERM

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                                   ARTYFACTS SPRING TERM JANUARY 2020

    1. WHAT IS ART? Brainstorming and experimenting in our sketch books.

    SMALL WATER COLOUR PAINTING.

    •   Using poster paint the children will design a poster inspired by the topic of Pollution in our planet.
    • UP-CYCLE A PLASTIC BOTTLE, using stained glass paint, tissue paper and pens.
    • EARTH ART. Learning about ANDY GOLDSWORTHY and AGNES DENES. Using pen and ink, design a large-scale piece of land art.
    • COLLAGE. Using recycled calendars and magazines, cut and paste your images to create a new image.

    HALF TERM 17TH FEBRUARY – 21ST FEBRUARY

    • DRAW YOUR SELF PORTRAIT.
    • PAINT YOUR SELF PORTRAIT.
    • LOOKING AT ARTIST MARC CHAGALL, paint the town you live in, including any details or memories you love and find important to you.
    • ABORIGONAL ART. Healing paintings using dots.
    1. CLAY SCULPTURES.
    1. ETCHING AND MONO PRINTING.

    Please remember to bring in magazines and old calendars and plastic milk or water bottles! Thank you.

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    ARTYFACTS ART SYLLABUS SPRING 2019

    This term we will be looking at cityscapes, and the different ways to observe and record them, including birds eye views, vanishing points and light and the shadows that are produced from our natural and man-made worlds. We will also be building using clay tiles and etching into plaster and designing are own bags.

    1. Painting a backdrop using one colour plus white to create a tonal gradation for our town. (this is a two-step project and will be completed in the following week.)
    • Studying different types of buildings; we will draw 5 buildings in pen and ink to place over our painted backdrop.
    • The magnificent Royal Pavilion, experiment with the contrasts of chalk pastels on black paper.
    • How to achieve distance on a flat surface using a vanishing point and light and shadow.
    • Looking from above ‘birds eye view’ design a farm. Using oil pastel and paint.
    • Meditation. After taking a visual journey, with your eyes closed, using the techniques you have learnt in the last few weeks, you will draw the places you have travelled, using water colour pencils.

    HALF TERM** MONDAY 18TH FEBRUARY FRIDAY 22ND FEBRUARY

    • Using clay tiles, you will learn how to build a cube which can be made into a house for your miniature world next week.
    • Miniature worlds.
    • How a liquid can become a solid, making plaster. Etch into the hard plaster and then let the water colour paint absorb into the porous rock.
    1. Drawing to different types of music in groups, express how the music makes you feel using marks, shapes and colours.
    1. Design your own bags.