Feathered Friends
In The Art Room this week, we took inspiration from the top ten birds spotted in 2024 during the RSPB’s The Big Garden Bird Watch. On the weekend of 24-26 January 2025 the world’s largest garden wildlife survey took place again in the UK providing a snapshot of the species off birds living on our neighbourhoods. Using our skills of observation and our understanding of how to add detail to our art works, the children produced wonderfully colourful bird creations in their classes.
Our preschoolers constructed 3D cardboard birds and used collage to add texture by gluing small bits of torn up newspaper to their models. They had a great time mixing their own paint colours to brush onto their birds and finally added tissue paper feathers and other details to make their creations their own. Lots of concentration was required to draw around a coin and to cut out an eye shape, as well as colour in the circular, black pupil. It was great to see so many faces light up with smiles as each bird ‘took flight’ at the end of the session and dangled proudly from their colourful strings!
Our Afterschool artists put their drawing skills to good use again by producing their own artwork of the most popular garden birds. Adding colour and detail with watercolour paint and fine-liner pens, a large family of Robins and Blue Tits were spotted in The Art Room along with the odd Chaffinch, Magpie and Sparrow! Our younger artists cut out their finished birds and displayed their creations by attaching them to twigs collected from the garden, ready to perch in pride of place in their new homes.
Our older artists were challenged to home their birds in their natural environment and they did a great job to use bright and colourful watercolour washes to set their birds against rosy sunsets, vibrant garden greenery and delicate branches of blossom. All the children showed great focus in carefully studying the reference material they had chosen to help them understand the basic shapes required to draw the outline and frame of a bird and how to sketch in particular features. Similarly, they patiently layered up washes of paint, moving from light to dark, to add distinctive patches of colour to describe the identity of their chosen bird. Great work everyone! Your beautiful flock of feathered friends brightened up The Art Room on a rather cold and drizzly January day!
