Visual Arts

Explorer visual arts lesson plans and activities relating to the marine are available in the following strands. Note that a number of the lesson plans may be adapted to suit class age groups.

A selection of Explorer visual arts lesson plans are also available through Irish.  Please see the Gaeilege section of the website for more information:

Visual Arts iconJunior Infants Class and Senior Infants Class 

Strand: Print
Strand Unit: Making Prints. Looking and Responding. 
Creating Underwater Handprints of Marine Animals under the Sea 
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to compose simple shapes and textures of marine animals in the sea using hand prints.   They will be enabled to experiment, repeating and combining hand and thumb prints to create an underwater scene and marine animals. They will respond to the prints created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

Strand: Fabric and Fibre 
Strand Unit: Creating in Fabric and Fibre. Looking and Responding. 
Designing Explorer Mermaids and Mermen Costumes
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to explore the possibilities of fabric and fibre as a medium for imaginative expression by designing a marine costume for a mermaid or a merman. They will respond to the prints created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

 

Visual Arts iconFirst Class and Second Class

Strand: Construction
Strand Unit: Making Constructions. Looking and Responding. 
Constructing a Marine Themed Structure – Lighthouse
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to explore and experiment with the properties and characteristics of materials in making structures based on a marine theme such as Lighthouses.  They will respond to the lighthouses created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

Strand: Paint and Colour
Strand Unit: Painting. Looking and Responding. 
Observing and Creating Paintings of Rough and Calm Seas 
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to be enabled to mix primary colours and use newly created colours expressively to interpret contrast in the natural world of the sea and ocean.

 

Visual Arts iconThird Class and Fourth Class

Strand: Paint and Colour 
Strand Unit: Painting. Looking and Responding. 
Bubble Art - Learning about Paint and Colour  
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to use paint and mix colours so as to develop an understanding of the theory of primary and secondary colours. The students will also develop techniques for creating texture using paint and bubbles – called bubble art.
*Note: The art work can be conducted over a course of study. 

Strand: Fabric and Fibre 
Strand Unit: Creating in Fabric and Fibre. Looking and Responding.
Creating an Underwater World of the Ocean in Fabric and Fibre Collage
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to be enabled to explore and discover the possibilities of fabric and fibre as medium for imaginative expression, designing and make a collage based on the “Underwater World of the Ocean”. They will respond to the lighthouses created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

Strand: Drawing
Strand Unit: Making. Drawing. Looking and Responding. 
Drawing Still Life Scenes of Items from the Seashore
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to create still life drawings of items from the seashore.  The children will be enabled to respond to other artist’s works as well as completing their own drawings by experimenting with the marks, lines, shapes, textures, patterns and tones that can be made with different drawing instruments on a range of surfaces. The children will respond to the pictures created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

 

Visual Arts iconFifth Class and Six Class

Strand: Paint and Colour 
Strand Unit: Painting. Looking and Responding. 
Reviewing Irish Artists and Creating Paintings Influenced by Our Ocean
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to study Irish artists who have been influenced by our ocean and produce paintings based on recalled feelings and experiences using the marine theme for inspiration.  In their paintings the students will explore colour with a variety of drawing instruments, media and techniques by discover ways of achieving spatial effects e.g. form, shape, position, size and distance.  The children will respond to the paintings created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

Strand: Clay 
Strand Unit: Developing form in clay. Looking and Responding. 
Constructing a Clay Ocean Diorama showing the effects of Marine Pollution
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to be enabled to explore and discover the possibilities of clay as a medium for imaginative expression.   They will construct a clay ocean diorama showing the effects of marine pollution.  The children will respond to the clay dioramas created in the class by talking about his/her work, as well as the work of other children.

Strand: Construction
Strand Unit: Making Drawings. Making Constructions. Looking and Responding. 
Design and Make a Paper Mache Submarine 
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to consider designing technology for the future, producing drawings of a submarine featuring the design plans for inside and outside of the vessel. As an extension to the activity students may also construct a paper maché ‘Super Future Explorers Submarine’. 
*Note: The art work can be conducted over a course of study. 

Strand: Construction
Strand Unit: Making Constructions. Looking and Responding. 
Creating and Making a textured Shell Collage Picture
The aim of the lesson plan is for children to explore and experiment with the properties and characteristics of materials from the seashore (shells, sand, stones etc) and make seashore textured collages. They will learn to use their imagination to construct a textured seashore picture using shells and sand.

Strand: Construction
Strand Unit: Making Constructions. Looking and Responding. 
Seashore flotsam and jetsam treasure hunt and making a Tallest castle or a Mutant Sea monster
The lesson plan includes a number of activities that can be conducted on the seashore.  Variations of lesson can be adapted to suit the children’s abilities and time allocated on the seashore.  The children will complete a treasure hunt in teams collecting flotsam and jetsam samples from the seashore to construct a ‘tallest castle’ or a ‘mutant sea monster’ on the seashore. The children will also learn about the benefits of becoming environmentally aware and active in their local community. 

Strand: Fabric and Fibre
Strand Unit: Making. Drawing. Looking and Responding. 
Save the Seas Poster  
The aim of the lesson plan is for students to develop drawings, paint and colour, as well as use fabric, fibre (including shells, seaweeds, flotsam and jetsam from the seashore) to create a 3D - poster showing how people can protect the marine environment and save the sea. 
*Note: The art work can be conducted over a course of study. 

Strand: Fabric and Fibre
Strand Unit: Making in Fabric and Fibre. Looking and Responding. 
Pressing Seaweed and creating collage artwork
Using themes from the children’s seashore experience they will create collage artwork using card, dried seaweeds and other ‘scraps’ of fabric and fibre.   The children will explore designing their artwork concentrating on line, shape, form, colour and tone, texture, pattern and rhythm, as well as space associated with seaweeds. Note that some prep work is required by the teacher regarding pressing seaweed in advance of the class.