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Katie visits the gallery for the first time with Grandma and discovers that art is wonderfully exciting, especially when five famous paintings come alive for her! Join the ever-curious Katie as she discovers that art can be fantastic fun – particularly when you step into the world inside the frame…
Teaching Ideas and Resources:
English
- Write a biography of one of the artists included in the story.
- Use the text to make your own play script. Rehearse and perform this to others.
- Choose a famous painting and write a story about what might happen if you could step inside it.
- Imagine that you are standing inside a famous painting. Describe how your senses are affected. What can you see / smell / hear / taste / touch?
- Find out about some famous pictures and create a ‘Children’s Guide’ wi east to read information about them.
Maths
- Imagine that you are creating a new art gallery. How much would you charge for entrance? What would you sell in the gift shop / cafe? How much money would you make in a week, if there were 100 visitors per day?
- Find out when the different paintings were made. Work out how many years ago this was.
- Look at the shapes within the picture ‘Dynamic Suprematism’. What shapes can you see? Can you describe their properties?
Computing
- Use Google Maps to find the location of art galleries around the world. Are there any close to where you live?
- Use graphical modelling software to design a layout for a new art gallery. Which different areas / rooms would you have?
- Visit the websites of different art galleries. Could you use these to go on a virtual tour?
Art
- Find out about the pictures mentioned in the story. Who painted them? When / how / where were they created?
- Imagine that you could set up an art gallery using any famous artwork. Which ones would you choose? Why would you pick them?
- Go on a visit to an art gallery if possible. Which painting was your favourite? Why?
- Set up an art gallery at your school showing the children’s artwork.
- Draw a picture from the point of view of a person in a famous painting. What are they looking at? Who is looking at them?
- Look at the different colours and shades in the illustrations. Can you recreate these colours / shades using different art materials?
- Katie looks at the painting ‘Tropical Storm with a Tiger’ by Henri Rousseau. Imagine how this painting might look with a different type of weather. Choose another famous painting and recreate it with different environmental conditions.
- Ask a group of friends to all draw / paint a picture of the same thing. Compare your pictures and see how all of them are different.
- Watch this video in which the author / illustrator talks about his love of painting and drawing:
Geography
- Find out about famous artists and plot where they have lived in a map.
Languages
- Madame Moitessier speaks French in one part of the story. Find out the meaning of what she says. Could you make up a conversation between her and Katie, in French?
PSHE
- Imagine what the people in the paintings are feeling.