Key Stage 1 art and design · Drawing, painting and sculpture

KS1 painting: ideas, experiences and imagination

Painting lets young children turn ideas and feelings into colour. At Key Stage 1, pupils are taught to use painting, alongside drawing and sculpture, to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination, and to build techniques in colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. Children learn how to handle a brush, mix paint and choose colours for a reason, so a painting can say something about a place, a memory or a mood.

Painting ideas and experiences, explained

Painting at this age begins with control and confidence. Children learn to hold a brush, load it with paint without drowning it, and wash it between colours. Schools usually offer brushes of different sizes, so a child discovers that a thick brush covers large areas and makes bold marks, while a thin brush is for details and lines. They also try other tools, such as sponges, rollers, fingers, cotton buds and sticks. Paint is often ready-mixed poster or powder paint, though watercolour blocks may be used too. Teachers choose what suits the project.

Paint can be used in many different ways, and part of the Key Stage 1 curriculum is to try several. Children dab with a sponge for a soft, textured surface, drag a dry brush to make rough lines like grass, add water for a thin wash, use thick paint for strong colour, and paint dots or stripes to make patterns. They begin to mix colours, learning, for example, that adding white makes a colour lighter. Colour mixing is taught as a skill in its own right, but it comes into nearly every painting lesson.

The curriculum’s focus on ideas, experiences and imagination means the subject matter is often personal. Children might paint a memory (my birthday party), a feeling (how it feels on a stormy day), a place they know (the playground) or something imagined (a dragon’s cave). They are encouraged to choose colours that match the idea: bold reds and oranges for a loud, hot day, soft blues and greys for a rainy one. Children also begin to think about space, deciding where to put the sky, the ground and the main subject, and about form, perhaps by painting a ball with a lighter patch to make it look round.

As in drawing, the aim is not photographic accuracy. Teachers talk with children while they paint, asking what they are trying to show, and later display the paintings so that children can say what they like about their own and each other’s. Paintings may be kept as part of a class gallery. Expect your child to come home with a painting that looks a little unexpected. That is usually the point.

Words your child will hear

Brush stroke: The mark left by a brush as it moves across the paper.
Mix: To blend two or more colours together to make a new one.
Wash: A thin, watery layer of paint that you can see through.
Background: The part of a picture that is behind the main subject, such as the sky.
Dab: To press a brush or sponge lightly on the paper, again and again.
Mood: The feeling a painting gives, such as calm, cheerful or scary.
Palette: A tray or plate where paint is put out and mixed.

What the National Curriculum says

In Key Stage 1, pupils should be taught to:

Use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
Develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space

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

Try it: painting how a stormy day feels

Paint a picture that shows what a stormy day feels like.

Talk first. Ask, “What colours, shapes and sounds does a storm have?” Children might say dark clouds, jagged lightning, big wind and loud noise.
Choose colours for the mood. Pick dark blue, grey and purple for the sky, with a bright yellow for lightning. Mix grey on a palette by adding a little black to white, or blue to white and a speck of brown.
Paint the background first with a wide brush. Use big, sweeping strokes across the page, and add more water in places for a lighter, see-through wash.
Add the main idea. Use a sponge or a dabbing brush to build up thick, heavy clouds. When the sky is dry, use a thin brush and thick yellow paint for a zigzag lightning bolt, so the colours do not run together.
Add detail. Paint a small house or tree with bending branches, and slanting lines for rain. Then explain what you were trying to show.

There is no single right painting, but a successful one has colours that match the idea, uses at least two brush sizes or techniques, and can be explained. A child might say, “I used dark colours because storms are scary, and the yellow zigzag is the lightning.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Mixing so many colours together that the paint turns a muddy brown

Children love mixing and keep adding colours to see what happens. Three or more different colours together usually give a murky brown or grey.

What helps: Suggest mixing just two colours at a time and keeping a clean patch of each for later. Say, “That’s a great brown, what could it be used for?” and use it for tree trunks.

Painting over the top while the first layer is still wet

Children are eager to add the next thing, and a wet layer causes the colours to run together. The paper may also tear or go soggy.

What helps: Teach a “wait” step: paint the background, then look at something else for a few minutes. If a blur is wanted on purpose, say so, so they know the effect and the reason.

Using a big brush for every part, so the detail disappears

A big brush is the easiest to hold and the first one they reach for.

What helps: Put out a big brush, a medium brush and a fine brush, and ask, “Which one would you use for the sky? Which one for the whiskers?”

Painting the sky as a thin strip of blue at the top and leaving white paper below

Children paint what they know about the world, with the sky above and the ground below, rather than what they see. A blue stripe is a symbol.

What helps: Look out of the window together. Notice that the sky goes down to the horizon and may be pale, grey or pink, not only blue. Cover the whole background first.

How to help at home

Paint a feeling. Choose a feeling, such as happy, sleepy or grumpy, and ask your child to paint it using colour and lines only, with no objects. Then guess each other’s feelings.
Two colours at a time. Put out red, yellow and blue paint and a little white, and let them see what they can make with two at a time. Keep a sample of each mix on a sheet of paper.
Try different tools. A sponge, a cotton bud, an old toothbrush, a piece of card and a dry brush all make different marks. Make a mark patch on one sheet, then use the best marks in a picture.
Paint a story. After reading a favourite book together, paint one scene from it, or what happens next. Ask your child to tell you why they chose those colours.
Make it easy to start. Washable paint, an old shirt, newspaper over the table and a pot of water cut down the mess. A smaller amount of paint in a muffin tin keeps colours tidy and stops waste.