Arts Week – Under the Sea

In Class 9, our focus for Arts Week has been Under the Sea! We have learnt many interesting facts about the animals which live under the sea and how they survive!

On the first day, we created an ocean waves painting using sponges, paint brushes and our finger tips. We also created Pufferfish paintings on black card using white and yellow paints. We used a range of tools including cotton buds, our fingers and some of us even used forks to achieve the desired effect! In the afternoon we created colourful shell pictures. We sketched out an outline for our shell before going over it with a black felt tip pen. We then enjoyed adding different coloured pastels around the inside of our shell to create a repeating pattern! After that we painted some ocean backgrounds and created a mixed media collage using different types of paper to make our fish come to life.

On the second day, we explored with clay to create clay fish. The children worked amazingly to construct the fish shape before smoothing the edges, adding details such as to the fins using a tool. The final step was to add some sequins to decorate the fish! In the afternoon, we did a fish craft activity. We painted paper plates before adding cut up different colours of tissue paper to decorate them. Once it was dry, we added an eye, mouth and a shiny wiggly tail to our fish to make them come to life. They looked fantastic!

As part of arts week, we have also learnt a range of sketching skills such as stippling, circulism, hatching and cross-hatching. This prepared us for completing our final sketch of a shell. We enjoyed taking our time to complete this sketch and we ensured to use the sketching methods we had learnt. Later on this day, we created an aboriginal dot painting of a turtle using a range of colours. We used cotton buds for this to ensure the dots were precise. In the afternoon, the children got changed into their PE kits ready for an ‘Under the Sea’ themed P.E. lesson. The children loved learning some different dance moves such as ‘Kevin the crab’ and ‘Daphne the dolphin’. At the end of the lesson, the children chose their favourite sea creature and had to lay very still in this position to cool down.

On our final day of Arts week, we sketched and coloured starfish using oil pastels. After that, we completed a music lesson based on the song ‘Under the sea’. The children learnt about rhythm and completed some body percussion involving clapping, tapping and clicking. Once they had done this, they were ready to use some egg shakers and tambourines to enhance their performance further. The children were brilliant at working as a team to perform!

We are extremely proud of the children’s enthusiasm and art work they produced as part of Arts week. We can’t wait for you to take a look at our Arts week display when you come into school!