Project:  Printmaking – Habitat Wild
Participants:  Year 4 pupils
Partnering with:  Carlton J&I
Artist:  Shelley Burgoyne
Science topic:  Living Things and their Habitats

Our chosen science focus- Living Things and their Habitats – will involve us identifying and classifying animals, and looking at animals and the habitats they live in. One link to the Change theme will be that we will incorporate research into the changes that animals make to their appearance and skin patterns according to different habitats and surroundings. We are hoping to use a cascade process whereby those of us involved in the project can teach the techniques we learn to our peers. A space has been designated for the finished artwork to be displayed in school.

We have all been preparing quite a bit before we started working with Shelley today. We have already started our Science Unit about Living Things and their Habitats and have been drawing and making our animals and habitats collection. So today we used some of our drawings to start some polyblock printing. We also printed the beginning of a little book. We loved the results and it was an exciting afternoon.

“We are making a print about animal skin using polyblock. We are choosing colours and papers to print them with so they look like real animal skins”

“‘We drew the patterns on polyblok and we printed on pieces of coloured paper”

“We printed the front page of our book about habitats and we are going to draw in it before we see Shelley next time”

We looked at our little Habitat books that we have been drawing in since we last saw Shelley. They are starting to look really beautiful. Today we spent the session preparing and drawing large habitat pictures, first on paper and then onto polyblock. It was quite a challenge thinking how to draw so big and making the decisions working in pairs. We will be printing them next week.

“Today I enjoyed myself a lot because we learnt more about habitats and what they look like.”

“I enjoyed today because we did art which is what I love the most. I also learnt new things”

“First we picked our partners. Then we chose our habitat and we chose to draw the ocean. We drew a lot of coral, three fish, a jellyfish and a killer whale. Then we drew it all onto the polyblock”

“We decided to draw the sky then changed our minds and decided to do a swamp. I drew a crocodile tail coming out of the water and my partner and I both drew the swamp parts together”

This was our last session together and we had quite a challenge on to complete all the work. We all worked together and in pairs to make the set of prints which will finally hang in the ceiling on the long corridor at school. The habitat images we have printed are all part of looking at the changes animals go through to adapt to living in different places. It has been a really good way to have lots of discussions, and great ideas have been developed through the work we have done. Well done to Year 4 for working so hard!

“I drew a bog habitat on my large piece of polyblock for printing. It was very interesting and inspiring doing some of our science in the art project as well”

“I worked with my friend and our habitat was a large water droplet. We had to put all the little water creatures in it. I found it a really fun thing to do”

“We made a tree habitat picture and then it was printed. So the science project will be a big display”

“We were drawing a grassland habitat for our project. We had to research what animals live in there. We made a big print, it was quite hard and good fun”

Making links between science and art has helped the children to engage with science in a cross-curricular way and they have been keen to complete science homework in the hope that they get to work with the artist! The children have a more positive attitude towards their artistic skills – a lot of them now think positively about their skills, rather than having a negative viewpoint.  The children have enjoyed this immensely, as well as the staff involved!

Sumayya Waza