Key Stage 1 art and design · Making and materials

KS1 art: designing and making products in Years 1 and 2

In art and design at Key Stage 1, children are taught to use a range of materials creatively to design and make products, and to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. In practice this means going beyond free play: thinking of an idea, sketching it, choosing materials, making it, and saying what they think of the result.

Designing and making products, explained

A “product” in art simply means something your child has made on purpose. Schools choose what it is, and typical examples include a puppet, a clay or dough model, a collage, a mask, a greetings card, a woven bookmark or a printed bag. The curriculum does not set a list. What it asks is that children use materials creatively and that they use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination. The finished object is where those ideas end up.

Many teachers follow a simple cycle that children can say aloud: think, plan, make, look back. In the thinking stage, children might look at pictures, handle real objects or talk about a story. In the planning stage they draw a quick sketch, often in a sketchbook, and decide which materials to use and why. The plan does not need to be perfect and it is allowed to change. Children are often surprised to find that an idea looks different once the material is in their hands, and that changing their mind is part of what makers do.

The making stage is where the skills from the other Key Stage 1 topics come together: cutting, tearing, joining, rolling, painting, pressing and printing, along with the choices about colour, pattern, texture, line, shape and form that make the piece look the way it does. Teachers show a skill once, then step back and let children try it for themselves. They are looking for care and independence more than a polished result, and they praise children for solving a problem, such as how to make a paper hat stay on a puppet.

Looking back is the part parents often do not hear about. Children are asked, in their own words, what they like about their work, what was tricky and what they would change. Year 1 children may simply point and say “this bit is my favourite”. By Year 2 many can give a reason, such as “I used shiny paper so the fish looks wet.” This habit of reflecting prepares the ground for Key Stage 2, where children use sketchbooks to review and revisit their ideas.

Words your child will hear

Design: To plan what you are going to make, often by drawing it first.
Product: Something that has been made, such as a puppet, a card or a clay model.
Sketch: A quick, rough drawing made to try out an idea.
Sketchbook: A book where ideas, practice drawings and experiments are kept.
Join: To fix two parts together, for example by gluing, taping, pressing or weaving.
Improve: To change something to make it work or look better.
Evaluate: To look carefully at your work and say what is good and what could be better.

What the National Curriculum says

In Key Stage 1, pupils should be taught to:

Use a range of materials creatively to design and make products
Use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: designing and making a bird puppet

Design and make a bird puppet on a stick for a story about a bird that sings at sunrise.

Think. Look at pictures or feathers and talk about what a bird has: a beak, wings, a tail, feathers, claws. Decide what kind of bird it is and what makes it look happy.
Plan. Draw a quick sketch of the front view and label the parts. Choose materials and give a reason: yellow card for the body because it is stiff, tissue paper for the tail because it is light and flutters, a lolly stick for the handle.
Make. Draw the body shape onto the card and cut it out with safety scissors, with an adult nearby. Tear and glue the tissue feathers, add an eye and a beak, then tape the stick to the back.
Check and improve. Wave the puppet. If the tail flops or droops, add a layer of thicker paper behind it or fix it with extra tape.
Look back. Say what you like, what was tricky and what you would do differently, for example “I would use a bigger stick because mine is short.”

A good outcome is a puppet that matches the plan, or one that has changed for a good reason that the child can explain. A model answer to “What would you change?” might be: “The tail was too floppy, so I stuck card behind it. Next time I would use card first.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Thinking the plan is a promise that must be followed exactly

Children can feel they will be wrong if the finished piece does not match the drawing, so they get upset when a material does not behave.

What helps: Say that makers change their minds all the time and ask, “What did you change, and why?” Keep the sketch next to the model and compare.

Rushing the planning stage to get to the making

Making is more exciting than drawing, so a quick scribble feels like enough.

What helps: Ask three short questions before starting: What are you making? What will you use? What will be the hardest part? Then let them go.

Saying only “I like it” or “it’s nice” when asked to evaluate

Young children have a small vocabulary for judging art, and “nice” is the easiest word.

What helps: Offer sentence starters: “I like the … because …” or “Next time I would …”. Give them real art words, such as bright, bold, bumpy, smooth or delicate.

Believing a finished product must look like the real thing

Children compare what they have made with a real bird or a real car, and are disappointed when their version looks different.

What helps: Remind them that art can be imagined. A purple bird with spotted wings is as valid as a robin. Praise the idea as well as the likeness.

How to help at home

Draw it before you make it. Before building with boxes or tubes, spend two minutes sketching the idea together. Label two or three parts, then let your child change the plan as they go.
Make a gift. A card, a bookmark or a decorated box for someone special gives the product a real purpose. Ask who it is for and what they would like, then choose materials to match.
Talk about what you used. When it is finished, ask what they used and why. Try “What was the trickiest part?” and “What would you do differently?” Listen without correcting.
Look at made things. Pick up a mug, a toy or a piece of fabric and ask who designed it and what it is made from. Children learn that every made thing started as someone’s idea.
Keep it safe and low risk. Use safety scissors, washable paint and a glue stick or PVA glue, and stay close when anything is cut or stuck. Keep a tidy box for work in progress so a project can continue over several days.