Aboriginal Hand Print Art



By Ella, 2010


The Lesson:

This lesson idea is thanks to my wonderful teaching colleague, Mrs Vince.  We had been studying a unit of work on the British colonisation of Australia, including Aboriginal perspectives and experiences.  This piece of artwork was created after studying the lives of Australian Aboriginal people before the British colonisation of Australia.

Lesson Steps:

1.  I used a PowerPoint presentation and a number of Internet websites to look at what life was like for Australian Aboriginal people before British colonisation.  We examined Aboriginal artworks, including both older, traditional works and more modern artworks.
2.  We discussed the techniques, colours, shapes, patterns, symbols and styles found in Aboriginal paintings.
3.  The students traced their hand shape onto black paper and stuck it onto red cardboard.  I encouraged the students to think about how they wanted to place their hands on the page and what they were trying to convey through the placement of the hands (e.g. unity/harmony, joy, isolation etc).
4.  I then asked the students to design a pattern of dots on some scrap paper.  I tried to convey the importance of creating patterns/shapes/lines, not just putting dots anywhere!
5.  When students were happy with their designs, I demonstrated how to use the bottom of the paintbrush and/or a cotton bud to dip into the paint and create dots.
6.  We also discussed what colours would be appropriate and effective on the artworks (e.g. red on the red cardboard may not show up well, white and yellow show up well on black, etc)
7.  The students went back to their desks and created their dot paintings.

Year 3 Dot Paintings:



Year 3 Paintings, 2010




Year 3 student, 2010




Year 3 student, 2010