So, Art Club - how’s it going?

26 Feb

Written By Helen Leslie

Creative chaos and awesome artwork

I thought I’d look at how Art Club is going, now that we’re a term and a half in! Starting in September 2025, this brand new club is a partnership between myself and Emma at Pom Stitch Tassel in Bovey Tracey. We have had a group of around 10-12 children, between the ages of 5 and 12 years, since then. The club has smashed our expectations in terms of interest and the balance of ages has been brilliant - we are settling into a rhythm of the youngest children in the upper room at Pom Stitch Tassel where Emma works with them, and the older children in the main room with me. However the rooms aren’t separate, resources - including us as teachers - are shared and accessible to all and the children flow in and out of each room, which is a lovely (and often chaotic!) mix.

It was a daunting challenge, thinking of the projects and tasks we would tackle, and how do we approach those when we’ve got children as young as 5 and as old as 10/11/12? What we’ve actually found is that the children are happy to tackle the same projects and keeping things flexible is best - my aim was always to encourage individual thinking and creativity, I didn’t want to impose strict rules or fixed tasks because I want the children to develop confidence in their own artistic instincts and to feel happy to play and experiment.

There have been a few times when the younger ones start with a slightly different task to the older group, but actually this tends to merge and each group fancies trying out the other group’s task or combining elements - and that’s brilliant!

I’m aware that the children have had busy days, and we want Art Club to be relaxed so the children feel comfortable to create. After all, I am keen to show that Art Club isn’t school, there is no requirement to all produce replicas of the same thing, no one’s work is marked, and so on. It can be a little bonkers but it’s great to go with it and see what happens - we’re there to provide resources, the inspiration, the structure of tasks and guidance - and often reassurance and encouragement. The children are influencing each other, seeing someone’s creation gives the confidence to try it too, and they spark ideas from each other.

Congratulations when they have made something great is really important - that positive feedback is vital! We really are cheering them on and celebrating their successes.

I find that the older children are more likely to feel the need for ‘perfection’ and wanting to do it ‘right’, whereas younger children will often dive in without too much concern - their frustration is more likely to come from the equipment, like spillages or something not working the way they want.

I feel it’s my mission to encourage and allow the children to grow their confidence in putting energy into their work, to make ‘mistakes’ and not be too concerned about that, to carry on. Because that freedom is critical to development!

Observing packaging design, Pop Art style

What projects have we explored?

We work on tasks based around a topic for the duration of a half term. Usually single-session tasks, or a couple of sessions for more complex tasks. As well as variety, this allows children the ease and low pressure of a short-term task (if it’s not something they gel with, then it’s different next week) as well as some tasks requiring more patience and step-by-step working, which develops another set of skills.

In our first term we started with Comic Strips and Character Development, then Pop Art. During the term, I created a selection of topics to give the children a flavour of tasks we could do in the next term ahead, and they voted for their favourites - because ownership and having a say in what you do is important! This led to Ocean Worlds from January, followed by Creating Nature which we’ve started this week.

I often think about the skills and techniques the children are getting to experience, some of which will be new to them and some won’t be, but the application may be. There’s also choice, so children are able to voice their thoughts if they do or don’t want to use something, and we will meet that need when and where appropriate. They’re also given freedom to use their interests, they aren’t forced to follow the task to the letter - the wearable art task is a good example, as we wanted the children to WANT to wear their art, so it should reflect their interests and style.

I like to design tasks so that the children learn techniques or use materials in low pressure ways - if you’re faced with a large canvas or piece of paper, the pressure to create something ‘good’ is overwhelming (for adults too!). However, painting on a miniature canvas with paint pens is quick, easy and less scary. Or painting on a wood slice, for example, immediately changes the fear into experimentation instead. Or drawing their favourite food packaging is fun and accessible - a lot of Tunnock’s Teacakes were eaten that day!

In a gradual, almost invisible way (the children don’t necessarily know what they’re learning while they’re doing it), the pressure is off and the children are often surprised by the results they create.

I’m going to rack my brains and see if I can list the things we’ve done so far:

Ink blowing ~ gradients with pastels ~ fabric painting ~ chalk, charcoal and midtone paper creating highlights and shadows ~ paper collage ~ painting on acetate ~ using glue guns ~ paper mache ~ ink stamping ~ creating characters ~ collage and handprints to create screen print effects ~ using paint pens ~ combining 2D drawing & 3D collage ~ artists’ work as inspiration ~ painting on 3D objects ~ comic strips/storytelling ~ using found treasures/broken jewellery/shells etc in artwork ~ multi layered images ~ recycling and using simple materials ~ painting on different surfaces ~ using more than one type of mark-making equipment in artwork ~ observational drawing

The list is endless, to be honest! And more to come.

I have LOVED seeing what the children have created so far, I have been impressed, I have been amused, and surprised. I think it’s brilliant that the children produce great results and genuinely fabulous artwork regardless of their age. And I like the fact that their artworks are treated and finished the same way - they got to see their comic strips mounted properly, ready for the wall. And they created a finished 3D sea creature that will look amazing in their rooms forever. They get to wear the shoes or bags that they designed and painted - I mean where else do you get to PAINT a pair of TRAINERS and WEAR them?!

Images: I really want to include pictures of absolutely all the work we’ve done but I can’t fit it all in! To see more of our work, I have week-by-week images saved in my Art Club highlights on Instagram.

Find out more about Art Club

Book your Art Club place via Pom Stitch Tassel (opens new browser window).

Wednesdays 4:30-6:00pm, term time at Pom Stitch Tassel in Bovey Tracey. For children age 5-12 years. Each session is £21 per child, payable in instalments or one payment. Art materials included (except very occasional final piece requirements) Free trial offered for first session; sibling/multi-club discount offered.