Art and Design · Year 1

Active learning ideas

Colour and Emotion in Art

Young learners construct meaning through doing, especially with visual concepts like colour and emotion. Active engagement with paint, discussion and movement helps them connect abstract feelings to concrete choices artists make.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: Art and Design - Painting
• KS1: Art and Design - Knowledge of Artists and Designers

• 25–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Gallery Walk
• 30 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Artist Feelings

Display prints of Van Gogh and Rothko works around the room. In small groups, students walk the gallery, note colours used and feelings evoked on sticky notes. Gather for a whole-class share-out to compare responses.

Analyze why an artist might choose blue for a painting instead of red to convey sadness.

Facilitation Tip

During Gallery Walk, position yourself midway so you can observe reactions while keeping the flow moving.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a colour written on it (e.g., 'blue', 'red', 'yellow'). Ask them to write one feeling or mood that colour might express in a painting and name one artist we studied who used that colour.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 25 min · Pairs

Colour Mixing: Mood Palettes

In pairs, provide primary paints and paper. Students mix colours to match emotions like happy or sad, naming their choices. Pairs present one palette to the class with reasons.

Evaluate whether a colour can be described as 'loud' or 'quiet' in an artwork.

Facilitation Tip

For Colour Mixing, assign each pair one primary colour and one mixing task to reduce waste and build teamwork.

What to look for

Show students two versions of the same simple drawing, one with a warm background and one with a cool background. Ask: 'How does changing the background colour make you feel differently about the picture? Which version feels more exciting? Which feels more calm?'

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 40 min · Individual

Paint Your Emotion: Van Gogh Style

Individually, students choose a feeling and paint a swirling night sky inspired by Van Gogh, using colours to show mood. Display works for peer feedback on colour choices.

Predict how changing the background colour might alter the mood of a painting.

Facilitation Tip

When students Paint Your Emotion, ask them to name the feeling aloud before they begin so voice and mark connect from the start.

What to look for

During a discussion about Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', ask students to hold up one finger if they think the blue is 'loud' and two fingers if they think it is 'quiet'. Follow up by asking why.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 35 min · Small Groups

Background Challenge: Mood Shifts

In small groups, paint the same simple scene like a house, then swap backgrounds with different colours. Discuss how the mood changes and vote on most effective versions.

Analyze why an artist might choose blue for a painting instead of red to convey sadness.

Facilitation Tip

In Background Challenge, have students swap work with a partner so fresh eyes notice mood changes they missed.

What to look for

Give each student a card with a colour written on it (e.g., 'blue', 'red', 'yellow'). Ask them to write one feeling or mood that colour might express in a painting and name one artist we studied who used that colour.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with movement and talk before paint to build schema. Use think-pair-share after each viewing so every voice informs the group’s understanding. Avoid over-explaining; instead, pose small, focused questions that lead students to discover the concepts themselves. Research shows that when children articulate their own colour-emotion links, retention and transfer to new artworks improve markedly.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently link colour choices to emotions, support their ideas with evidence from artworks, and revise their own work based on how colour shifts mood.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Colour Mixing: Mood Palettes, watch for students who default to one shade of blue or red without exploring lighter or darker mixes.

  Ask each pair to make at least three different blues and three different reds, then name the mood each mix suggests before moving on.

• During Paint Your Emotion: Van Gogh Style, watch for choices that follow the photograph rather than the intended emotion.

  Have students place their colour mixes on a tray labelled with feeling words; they must select the mix that best matches their chosen mood, not the scene.

• During Background Challenge: Mood Shifts, watch for students who add new subject details instead of changing only the background colour.

  Remind them to keep the central image identical and change only the hue, value or saturation of the background before recording their new mood.

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Methods used in this brief

• Gallery Walk
• Inside-Outside Circle