Our Blog

In Australia, Autumn is from March to May. This cooler season between Summer and Winter is referred to as Fall in America and, being in the Northern Hemisphere, occurs from September to November.

Wherever you are, this is a colourful time when the leaves on the deciduous trees turn from green to go...

Water! We need it. We use it. We play with it.

We want to live by the sea and holiday by the river. We build bridges to go over it and boats to go on it. We create dams and weirs to collect it. We need it for drinking and cooking, washing and cleaning. Architects, engineers, designers and inventors...

We have a new baby in our family! So I started thinking about how our growing family like to take pictures of the children and their antics. When our extended family is together, there are lots of photos and I was reflecting on what it is about babies and infants that we find so appealing. There’s s...

There was a mid 19^th century American art movement called “Luminism” (what a great word!) that dealt principally with light in landscape painting. The movement was characterised by the effects of light in the landscape, of light that washed the painted plane with an almost ethereal tranquillity emph...

The tooth fairy has been busy recently in the homes of many 6 year olds - one, I know well! Made me think about fairies and how we know what they look like - through artwork, of course, in many classical stories.

Fairies in the garden. The tooth fairy. Tinker bell. Fairy godmother. Fairies can be f...

‘Art’ you ready…!?

Art can play such an important role in education but let's start at the beginning!

Five and in Foundation 

In Australia, children start school at about the age of 5: maybe not quite, or already 5. This first year of school is nationally referred to as the Foundation year but in...

So this is Christmas and what do we know…
Who was Saint Nick and why Santa in snow?

So many stories, songs, images. Even if you’ve heard these stories before, I like to revisit them at this time of the year and perhaps pick up a new little insight.

From the secret gift-giver in Europe...

Saint Nic...

Why do we bring a tree inside our house at Christmas time and hang things on it…? Do you use a real fir or spruce tree or a fake one?! Some Christmas trees used in stores, and in homes, are huge! Then there are all the choices for decorations - merchandising gone mad. I start to think about new crea...

Floral, fauna, bird, mammal, fish, fossil… The states and territories of Australia have each selected emblems in these various categories. Why did they do this? Why were the symbols they selected, chosen? And what’s the difference between the terms fauna, animal, and mammal?

Researching these emble...

Capturing ‘on canvas’ the changes around us as our world warms and cools can help us understand and appreciate the science behind the seasons. Looking around, what elements can we add to an artwork that represent what’s happening in nature because of the changes in weather conditions? These changes ...

More and more, we, as learners and teachers are honing our sensitivities towards cultural practices that differ from our own. The heavy, and most often, brutal burden of historical colonialist expansion into lands that were deemed uninhabited, or unoccupied – and in Australia’s case termed “terra nu...

Taking time to remember our dad, spend time with our pop or create something a bit special for the father-figure in our lives can help show we love and appreciate them. Maybe you’re a mum looking for ideas for your kids to do something to celebrate this day, a teacher planning creative lessons for y...

Image incorporated above sourced from ABC

"I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present." These are the words often used now when people in Australia hold official meetings. The land I l...

The act of drawing is an act of visual communication. In every drawing there will be at least one entry point where a viewer might access a window to the message or meaning embedded in a drawing. Sometimes this message or meaning might be quite clear; at other times, the drawing might cloak its mean...

Kids art, craft and activities for Mothers' Day

How amazing are mothers!

Leading into Mothers' Day, the last thing mothers want to do is think about planning more activities for kids to do. You want to hope that dads or partners are going to step up and organise something special just for you. Tha...

**2024 Easter blog can be found here (Free art activities for kids)

Easter eggs, Easter bunny, Easter hunt, Easter buns, Easter pyjamas, Easter stories, Easter Sunday...! It’s nearly upon us. A time that means different things in different cultures, religions, and families. In a time where so much ...

There have been many times of uncertainty in human history. War, famine, plague and extraordinary acts of natural disaster are pinpoints in a vast human map of hardship and adversary.

In this time of the strangeness of social isolation due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) new ways ...

Having to keep kids at home can happen for many reasons. Homeschooling is not new or extraordinary. For many around the world, educating and engaging children at home has been a choice. Parents choose not to send their children to the local school, for many reasons. Others live in remote areas and s...

In Paris in 1667, the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture began its annual exhibition of student work from the Academy. In time, the pressure to fit in all the picture submissions, led to the practice of hanging the works very close together from floor to ceiling. This practice soon becam...

What is a silo?

Travelling through the wheat fields in the countryside of Australia, particularly in South Australia and Victoria, you may well pass some amazing artworks on the fronts of giant silos. These silos can be found in country towns near crop farms. Silos are large, tall towers for grain ...

Recently, whilst looking for inspiration for a graphic design exercise for students, I thought about the visual impact that book covers can have on consumers’ reading habits. We don’t really think too much about the changing trends in book cover design – but like all trends – they come and go often ...

Fire seemed to be everywhere. Our country was burning. Australia in the summer is hot and bushfires are common, but not to the extent we have just experienced. Obviously not everyone was directly affected but everyone was impacted in some way. Fire continues to be uppermost in our minds as the hot w...