Ochre Class were so excited to be back at school after their break, and really threw themselves into our topic launch day!

Our new topic is ‘Near and Far’, where we will be comparing parts of Kenya with parts of the UK. We started by finding out about the Maasai people of Kenya, and making necklaces in their style, using bright colours and geometric patterns. Next we found out about Tingatinga art, a painting style that originated in East Africa and was founded by Tanzanian painter Edward Tingatinga. We then created our own artwork in the style of Edward Tingatinga, replicating the pattern and textures it’s famous for painting wildlife and savannah landscapes. Using a watercolour wash we created the sunset backgrounds and then used black card to make the wildlife and features of our landscape. It was very strange using the end of a paintbrush but it was perfect for making all the brightly coloured dots!

It was a great day, and the children were so enthusiastic about the new topic.