Children Learning

Art in the National Curriculum 

Your child comes home with a fantastic self-portrait made from recycled household waste. It looks great, but what exactly did he learn from doing this? Creativity. 

Art is a vital part of your child's education and involves exploring the properties of materials and their textures, experimenting with different effects, and generally having the freedom to create. It is an important part of the national curriculum.

  Exploring different materials

A pre-school class of three and four-year-olds bring in a range of materials from home. The pile they create resembles a rubbish dump with fabric and wool scraps, scrunched up foil, bubble wrap, cardboard, and sandpaper, but the children plan to put them to good use.

After a couple of days of cutting, tearing and gluing, their monumental art project is completed. It's a ‘texture wall' - a smooth-rough, soft-hard, glittery-dull patchwork collage of recycled materials. For the rest of the term the children stroke, touch, poke, and even press their cheeks against, the different textures created. One child is transfixed by the effect of light hitting a piece of winkled foil paper... all great fun, but what exactly do they learn?

They learn about the properties of the different materials. They learn how to manipulate them. They learn about the use of colour and space. The children also learn to work in a team, and by talking about what each other sees, feels and likes, they extend their vocabulary and learn more about themselves and each other.

Later, as the children's knowledge and understanding develop they will build on this, becoming much more critical and discerning in their ideas, choice, manipulation and making in art, design and craft.  More... 

Every parent wants to ensure their child receives a high standard of education. The Children Learning section offers you support and guidance on how to extend your child's education and help them enjoy their school experience.

Learning happens everywhere - not just at school but also in a variety of other environments such as at home, in the community and online.

This section is filled with useful advice and features on the educational issues that will help make your child's experience of learning a fun and successful one. Find everything you need to know from SATs to the Key Stages of your child's education, from back to school tips, to free worksheets, from how to make the most of learning at home to learning online and in your local community.