What is it all about?
Children’s Art Day highlights visual arts in galleries and museums across the UK. July 6 to 12 has been designated Shine Week, a national schools festival celebrating talent among pupils. More than 175 events - including workshops at the design museum in London and art in public spaces across Scotland - will take place.
Assembly ideas
This week can be a perfect opportunity to bring creative activities into your assembly. Introduce the day by asking the pupils what art is. Some of the events taking place during Shine Week will be family activities, sculpture, photography and wig-making in arts venues, schools and community organisations - this shows how broad the term is.
Introduce some of the different areas and ask the pupils where their interest lies. This can be an opportunity to make your own event in the form of an art gallery. Create workshops during the day where the pupils can learn from each other.
If someone is talented at drawing, they could hold a five-minute presentation of some of the techniques - the same could be done for photography and sculpturing.
Make sure pupils prepare some points they will bring up. They could ask what they look for when taking pictures or where the inspiration comes from when creating an art object. Pupils, who would rather use the computer to design, can create a brochure that presents the different artists. You could make it into a fundraising event by inviting parents who have to purchase tickets.
Help, I’ve no time to prepare
The shine website, www.shineweek.co.uk, gives information on young people’s talent, which will give you ideas about workshops which can be done in class.
Where do I get more information?
Further information on the Children’s Art Day can be found on the engage website, www.engage.org, for the National Association for Gallery Education. Here you’ll find a list of events. You can also keep a blog and upload pictures of your event.
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Do you have an original assembly idea that works? Email features@tes.co.uk.
