Easter Activities

i-board regularly make a small selection of their resources available to teachers free of charge.  Currently http://www.easter.iboard.co.uk contains 6 activities suitable for KS1 and early KS2.

They are free to use and you can also link to them from your website, Merlin and My First Place. They are creative, pattern making activities, some themed around Easter. Simply go to the library area of the URL provided and click  “Show All Activities”. Note: When you get to the launch screen of an activity it contains a “copy link” button and “download thumbnail” button to support easy creation of lessons in a Learning Platform.

If you would like to see all i-board resources go to http://www.iboard.co.uk/free free to register for a free trial

In the style of Famous Artists

I was shown Check the map this week, which aims to support parents and tachers working with children with Special Educational Needs.  We spent some time looking at the extensive Free Fun Sites for Children and especially enjoyed 2 sites which recreate art in the style of famous artists. Jackson Pollock and Mr Picaso Head. Thanks for sharing Rowan!

 

ArtisanCam Competition

Take part in this fantastic new competition and you could see your work displayed at the world famous Kew Gardens in London.

In 1936 artist Edward Bawden designed a new poster to encourage people to visit Kew Gardens using London transport. Now ArtisanCam wants you to investigate Bawden’s brilliant use of linocut, before producing your own design for a new poster using the same lino printing processes that he used.

Learners can submit their designs simply by clicking on the ’send to competition’ button. The winner will receive an iPod nano and the winning entry will be displayed at Kew Gardens and seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors.”

The competition is open to everyone of school age across the UK and you can enter as many times as you like. The competition closes on 18th July 2008, so get printing! Visit the web site now to get started: www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/explorelinoprinting/index.php

                                   

ICT in Art

If you are ever stuck for inspirational ideas for Art activities using ICT then try the Sir Robert Hitcham’s Primary School website. It includes lesson ideas, examples of work and help notes for a range of art software. 

Christmas is Coming!

Now that December is here and we can officially turn our thoughts to Christmas, why not take this opportunity to add some festive entries to the new SWGfL Media Gallery. Get you pupils creating their own festive images using collage and scanners, digital cameras or graphics software and upload them to the Festivals and Celebrations area of the gallery. Not onle could you win a Digital Movie Creator (DCM3) for your school, but your images could be added to the SWGfL Postroom to be sent as e-cards.

Full Competition Details here.

Artisancam and Stitch It Up!

If your looking for some fun activities and inspiring ways to develop the use of ICT in Art, you can’t miss Artisancam. Developed by one of our sister Regional Broadband consortia, CLEO ( Cumbria and Lancashire online) it is a comprehensive online arts resource. All of the activities support the national curriculum in specific areas at Key Stage 2 and 3 and are linked from the SWGfL learning Grid section of the website

It provides an insight into the lives of contemporary artists. Using a mixture of video and interactive activities, it introduces children to the world of contemporary visual art before encouraging them to have a go themselves in fun and exciting ways. The website is divided into the Artists Zone, which contains classroom-based activities and the Activity Zone, which is full of games and fun interactive activities, designed to encourage children to continue their learning at home. For example, children can fire their own ‘virtual’ ceramic pot, or design their own piece of jewellery online.

In addition, CLEO are launching a national competition, Stitch IT Up, inviting pupils to design their own duvet online (there’s even a virtual sewing machine!). The competition opened on 15^th October and will close on 14^th December (nice Christmas project?). There will be regional and then national winners.

For more information, and to enter, please visit the Stich it up site: 

Kaleidascope Painters

If it’s got to that time in the term when you’re tearing your hair out trying to think of constructive activities to amuse your pupils. Or perhaps you need amusing whilst others are still trying to get things finished , try some of these. A range of sites that allow the user to create the most amasing onscreen visual patterns. Also really good for SEN pupils who respond to strong visual images and Early Years pupils.

If you want to test and develop ICT capability, why not try copying the image (use Screen Grab Pro or Snippy to capture an image from anywhere) and editing it in a graphics package such as Revelation Natural Art.

Kaleidascope Painter   Java Kali   DrawToy2    Byokal17 Kaleidascope   Reactive Colours

Topic Box

Regular visitors to the Coxhoe Durham or Snaith Primary websites will appreciate just how useful it is to have all those online educational resources in one place. I have just read about a new one called Topic Box on the Little Miss Teacher blog and have been to have a look around. The brightly coloured and easy to navigate website aims to electronically replace those dusty old plastic storage boxes which look promising but generally fail to deliver. Already there are 2131 resources in 174 different topics which can be rated by anyone who downloads them. Tell your friends and let me know if you come across any other similar sites.

 

Take One Picture

Congratulations to Horningsham Primary School in Wiltshire who have been selected by The National Gallery to have their art work displayed at the gallery in London and on the Take One Picture website including a Digital Animation.

 For information about how to get involved next year with this project promoting cross-curricular work in primary schools, have a look at the website and watch the video about the making of this year’s exhibition.