Lesson plan:

View the episode

Aunt Joyce, who comes to stay with James, Paul and Aku in this episode, is an artist. She demonstrates several traditional Aboriginal art techniques. Study a variety of Aboriginal art/artists with traditional and contemporary styles and techniques.

Make a display

Have students find books about Aboriginal art, including rock paintings and body painting and display them in the classroom. Include some books illustrated in an Aboriginal style, eg: Sally Morgan's My Place.

Visit an art gallery

Focus on the works by Aboriginal artists. Ask a speaker from the gallery to discuss the works of art with the students. Find out about different styles such as cross-hatching and dot painting.

Research an artist

Study one Aboriginal artist in depth (individual or class research) and report findings in a book, multimedia presentation or a newsletter article.

Do some art work in an aboriginal style

Encourage the students to have a go using a range of natural materials. Use different techniques like cross hatching and dot painting to fill in animal outlines. Experiment with body painting using ochre or clay. Try painting a depiction of an event on bark.

Explore statistics

Have a class vote about the students' favourite artist and/or piece of art. List all the Aboriginal artists that the class found out about along with an example of their work. Ask the students to vote for their favourite/s. Display the results and conduct some analysis of them, eg: most popular, most liked by girls/boys, teacher's choice.

Related lesson ideas

Aboriginal dreaming stories
Aboriginal families today