Aboriginal Art

In Art the children in Class 1 have enjoyed studying Australian mammals and the ancient people  that are unique to the continent of Australia - the Aboriginal people. The found out about the many traditional tales and myths surrounding these different animals, told by the Aboriginal people and enjoyed listening to the Dreamtime tale ‘How the kangaroo got her pouch’.
 
They learnt that the Aboriginal people had a way of painting with dots of paint to depict their way of life in the Outback and many of their descendants still keep this way of life alive. The children watched a video clip about Banol, head man of an Aboriginal village. The listened to him describe the Aboriginal Art and point out that most of the colours are ‘earth’ colours (because as Banol said, the colours are found in rocks); that the dots are not all the same size; that sometimes the dots are in straight lines and sometimes arranged in patterns. 
 
The children enjoyed producing their own work for a mini Art Gallery for visitors to our class 'Safari Park' to see! Having looked at various images to provide reference and inspiration, the children chose a template of an Australian mammal for their painting. They looked carefully at its features, then drew around it to create an outline in pencil. The then used cotton buds to carefully dot paint around the pencil outline. The children continued to create their own unique painting in the style of Aboriginal Art by choosing paint colour and tools to change the size of dots.