Art and DT

Activity 1

With so much coast and so many little islands to reach the Ancient Greeks became excellent boat builders and sailors.  We know about their boats because they painted them on pots and vases and because archaeologists have discovered wrecks of ancient Greek boats under the sea.

Get a piece of plain A4 paper (if possible).  Cut it in half and paint or colour ALL of one half  of it blue with waves.   Try to use different colours of blue.  If you don’t have colour, just use pencil.

Next, get the other half of the piece of paper and draw a picture of an Ancient Greek boat using pencil.  You can copy one of the ones below. Try to put in the people rowing the boat and the sails.  Cut out your boat, colour it or go over the lines in black pen and stick it on the blue background. 

Weekly Art Project -week of 27th April

Pandora's Box

This week we will be reading the Greek Myth of Pandora’s Box.  Over the week and at the weekend, you might like to make your own Pandora’s Box.

To do this, you will need glue, scissors, colouring crayons. 

You also need to find an empty box at home (check first with your parents  that you can use it). It could be a cereal box, a shoe box, a tea bag box or a box that has had washing tablets in. 

Decide which side will be the lid.

Now you can start to decorate it!  Remember to make it look so attractive someone will be tempted to open it, like Pandora did in the story.

You can use the following:

• Cut out bright pictures from old magazines or comics.
• Draw and colour your own pictures, cut them out and stick them on.
•  Glue on silver foil, stickers, wrapping paper, tissue paper (ask your parents first!).

When you have finished decorating the outside, lift the lid and write HOPE in big letters on the inside.    You could also add all the things that escaped when Pandora opened the box.                                                                  

Next, you could add a key hole on the outside and design a gold or silver key to open it with, like these ones.  Remember to take a photo of what you do to share on our class blog!

Activity 2 - Daedalus and Icarus

Task 1

This week, we are reading the story of Daedalus and Icarus.  Now it’s your turn to design a pair of wings or flying machine! 

Throughout history, people have been fascinated by flight and how birds fly.  One of these people was Leonardo da Vinci, who was an amazing artist and inventor, who lived in Italy about 600 years ago.

He studied and drew feathers, wings and birds, in order to understand how they flew.  Here is his drawing of a bird’s wing.

Copy and draw this feather, just using a sharp pencil and plain paper.

 Look very carefully and see how you could make different thicknesses of line.  

Can you make lighter, delicate, lines for the fluffy parts?

Can you make heavier, more definite lines for the central quill?

Leonardo went on to create designs for wings that people could fly with, gliders, and even a helicopter!

Here are his designs from his sketch book.

Now make your own design for a pair of wings or flying machine!  Remember to label it and explain what materials you would use.

Activity 2

Task 2

Make your own illustration of Daedalus and Icarus flying too close to the sun!

Start by getting a piece of plain paper and turning it to be landscape.  Next, using felt tip, pencil crayons or paint create the background. Use warm colours to make the sun.  Try to blend them in.  Then, add the blue of the sky.  Remember to use different blues if you can.

On another piece of paper, draw Daedalus and Icarus flying.  Then colour them black so they will stand out against the sky.  Cut them out and stick them on the back ground.

You can look at the illustrations from the story we read in English to get some ideas.

Activity 3

Task 1: Making a Maze

This week, we’ve read the Story of Daedalus and Icarus.  Daedalus built the maze on Crete for King Minos to keep the Minotaur in.

Practice finding your way through the maze below.  Can you find your way to the centre and out to the other side?

Here is one way to draw a maze using squared paper. Watch the slides below to learn one way of designing a maze.  Remember you can press pause if you need more time to look at each slide.  It is quite tricky!

Now make your maze.

1.First, get a piece of card (you could use the side of an empty cereal packet).

2. Next, design your maze.  Make sure you can get to the middle!

3. When you are happy with your design glue string or wool over your lines.

You could add the Minotaur  in the centre of your maze!

You could also try making a maze with Lego or bricks.

Remember to share what you have made on our class blog!!

Activity 4 - Ariadne’s ball of wool.

This week, we have been reading the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.  In the story, Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of wool as he goes into the maze, to help him get out. 

Now, draw the ball of wool in the picture below, or you could draw a ball of wool or string you have at home. You will need a sharp pencil.

Look at the sketch below.  See how  the artist has used their pencil in different ways to create the softness of the wool.  Try using your pencil to make light and dark lines and dark shaded areas.

When you have finished your pencil drawing you can make a ball of wool design like this.

1. Draw round a small plate or bottom of a mug lightly in pencil.
2. Draw 5 or 6 lines from one side of the circle to the opposite side. Try to keep them parallel (the same distance apart). 
3. Now, draw 5 new lines from another part of the circle to the opposite side. Stop when you get to the other lines and start drawing again at the other side of them. Do not draw over the other lines.  Like this one.

 4.  Next choose another part of the circle and draw 5 or 6 lines to the opposite side, making sure you do not draw OVER any of the other lines.  Like this.

 5.  Gradually, fill up all the space with lines, trying to follow them across from one side of the circle to the other.

6.  When you have filled all the circle, draw different patterns on each thread with a black felt tip, like the one above. 

  7.   Lastly, you could lightly colour your design, in one colour.

You can copy the sheet above or print off the PDF, if you need to.

Activity 5 

The Wooden Horse of Troy

This week, you are going to design your own Wooden Horse of Troy. 

Throughout history, the story of the Wooden Horse of Troy  has inspired artists and designers to imagine what it would have looked like, how it was made and how it could hold so many soldiers.  Here are some examples of things that have been drawn and made.

Now make your own design for a wooden horse of Troy.  

Remember to label your design and make sure you show the following on your design.

If you are feeling very creative, and have cardboard (it could be a cereal packet or a card board box) you could try making a model of the wooden horse, like the one below!