Inspired by local landmarks – connecting geography and art
As part of the geography topic “our local area” Year 2 planned a walking route to a local landmark: The Mansion in Roundhay Park. The children carefully followed their selected route, on their maps, and they recorded the human and physical features they saw along the way. When they arrived at The Mansion, the children became photographers, using the iPads to take photographs of the landscape and landmarks.
Once back in school, Year 2 learnt about Atkinson Grimshaw. He was a local artist, who painted many landscapes, including Leeds City Centre and Roundhay Park. The children then chose a photograph from the range they had taken; they sketched it, thinking about foreground and background carefully. After learning more about Atkinson Grimshaw’s style of painting, Year 2 used his technique when painting their own sketches with watercolours. A range of different sized paint brushes were selected to achieve the different strokes of darkness in their paintings.
The children found it very rewarding to be able to paint one of the landmarks they had actually seen in real life, in their geography work, and they liked learning the new water colour techniques.
