Our students aged 9-10 have been pin loom crafting this half-term; a loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. Pin weaving offers both versatility and portability for a woven project. The warp threads are held in place with straight pins. Weaving can be done in any direction, using thread, yarn, fabric strips, beads, feathers or other fibres. Crafting helps build self-esteem and gain confidence by:

• Building new skills
• Feeling productive
• Providing a useful way to give to others
• Creating beauty through self-expression

Cultural Heritage is the attributes, customs and traditions which are passed down between generations. It is an expression of self, as well as of community and family.

People of the same culture often have a shared identity, which can give a sense of pride, comfort, and belonging to members of the cultural ethnicity or group.

Our students at the Tuition club have been encouraged to think about the importance of cultural heritage.

We have found that this group activity is an amazing way of creating positive peer relationships and friendships. As each child takes a turn to discuss their cultural heritage, you can encourage to ask respectful questions and expand their understanding of other cultures. Group discussions like these can also be helpful in building confidence and valuable public speaking skills in children.

We have been crafting in Art! our students in class 6-7 have been crafting using paper and card as the primary artistic medium for the creation of one, two or three-dimensional objects. Paper craft lend themselves to a wide range of techniques and can be folded, curved, bent, cut, glued, molded, stitched, or layered. Paper is readily available and easier to work with than the more complicated media typically used in the creation of three-dimensional artwork, such as ceramics or wood.  It is also neater to work with than paints, dyes, and other coloring materials. Paper crafts may also be used in theraputic settings, providing children with a safe and uncomplicated creative outlet to express feelings. The children throuroughly enjoyed their crafting session and were able to take home a proud peice of paper craft with the 5 pillars of Islam! 

Tactile learners learn best through movement.

In Art & crafts our home-schooled children have been looking at images of buildings through feel and texture.

They have got to experience and remember patterns using their fingers creating a texture collage.

This activity helped those experiential artists because it adds a tactile aspect to the activity.

Using a wide range of materials with a variety of textures the children got to cut out random geometrical shapes to create their texture collage.

Our home-schooled children have been looking at the foundations of a picture in order to create a paper collage.

They worked on imitating the texture of the building and created shadows with the black highlights along with the white.

Paper collage is a technique of an art production where the artwork is created using an assemblage of different forms and shapes using paper.

These forms and shapes eventually create a whole image.

The children focused on looking at texture and the feel touch approach to create their paper collage.

Following on from planning and design the children have been working on creating their bags demonstrating their sewing skills using a wide range of materials.

Some of the students opted to use felt material to create their bags.

Felt is a durable, moisture-repellent and heat-insulating material and can be made of both, natural or synthetic fibres.

It is easy to work with and can be used on both sides because both surfaces are the same.

The children went on to draw and cut out the the pattern pieces in order to start stitching.

Some of our home-schooled children are in the first stage of designing their very own printed handbag.

They have started planning whereby the children will eventually go through the design process to create a product

In the next few weeks they will move on to demonstrate their sewing skills.

Children will learn how to make a paper template of the bag and how to sew a running stitch, backstitch, whip stitch and blanket stitch.

Finally, when they have made their handbags children will learn how to write a detailed evaluation.

Children have been looking at Ian Murphy’s drawings and focusing and developing upon mark-making over the last half-term.

Mark making is still a pure form of the artist unique self-expression of the communicative process.

The children created representational artworks using mark making.

Ian Murphy is a UK based Fine artist of 30 years, known for his passion for journeys, inspiring his artworks. The rugged and eroded landscape, both natural and the constructed, feature strongly in his visual stimulus, as he seeks to investigate the environments that fracture and decay to get the best ideas for his mixed media canvases in the studio.

Our home-schooled children have been looking at his drawings and have produced some excellent thumbnail sketches inspired by his artwork.

Our home-schooled children have taken each of their individual paintings and have added colour to their artwork.

Using watercolours, they have been able create a painting whereby light reflects off the white of the paper and bounces up through the colours, giving it a luminosity.

Also, by using a range of brushes the children were able to experiment with different sizes to work out what would be ideal for those little details within their artwork.

Watercolour techniques such as working from light to dark have helped build the values up layer by layer to arrive at the effect that was intended.