Art of Africa

Dive into the rich culture of African art with this exciting five-lesson scheme of work. Your children will have the chance to explore African animal patterns, discover Tingatinga paintings and their history, to sculpt and manipulate clay to recreate a Benin plaque, be introduced to Esther Mahlangu and her culture of Ndebele patterns before finally investigating the Adinkra symbols of the old Ashanti kingdom.

This creative scheme of work comes with all you need to teach your class about the beautiful artwork of Africa, including plans, activity ideas, slides and printable resources.

You may also like our Amazing Africa Topic Bundle containing four ready-to-teach schemes of work covering Geography, History, Art and DT. 

Natural Patterns

Investigate the natural patterns of animal prints with your class and challenge them to observe the repetitions, symmetry, shapes and textures of each. Recreate the patterns by giving the children a choice of different mediums to use. Ask the children to make decisions based upon previous experiences with the mediums, choosing them based on their suitability to recreate each of the natural patterns they have been studying.

View Lesson 1

Tingatinga paintings

Discover the world of Tingatinga paintings and their history. Encourage your class to pick out the defining features of this style of painting before challenging them to recreate the style in a painting or 3-D mask.

View Lesson 2

The Artwork of Benin

Take a trip into the history of the kingdom of Benin by analysing, observing and discovering the artwork that was made during this time. Investigate how the precious artefacts like the bronze plaques can tell us more about the magnificent Obas of the kingdoms and challenge your class to recreate this magnificence using clay to sculpt their own plaques.

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Ndebele Patterns

Discover the cultural artwork of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. Investigate the bright colours, bold lines and geometric shapes which make up the Ndebele artwork which is used to decorate their houses and jewellery. Encourage your class to create their own Ndebele patterns to decorate a small hut, or on a larger scale in their own piece.

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Adinkra Symbols

What symbols do we use to communicate? Investigate how symbols are used by us and in other cultures to communicate words, ideas and emotions in different ways. Introduce your class to the Adinkra symbols of the old Ashanti kingdom and how they were used to convey messages at different special events. Challenge your class to create their own messages using Adinkra symbols.

View Lesson 5