Art and Design · Year 1 · Storytelling Through Art · Spring Term

Illustrating Story Settings

Drawing backgrounds and settings that enhance the mood and context of a story, considering details like time of day or weather.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• KS1: Art and Design - Drawing
• KS1: Art and Design - Painting

About This Topic

Illustrating story settings teaches Year 1 pupils to draw and paint backgrounds that capture a story's mood and context. They add details such as dark clouds for spooky scenes or bright sunshine for joyful ones, considering time of day and weather. This work directly supports KS1 Art and Design standards in drawing and painting while linking to English comprehension, as pupils explain how settings provide clues to events.

Pupils explore key questions like constructing a spooky or joyful background, explaining detail choices, and predicting mood shifts from day to night. These activities build observation skills, imagination, and vocabulary for describing visual elements. Within the Storytelling Through Art unit, this topic fosters connections between art and narrative, helping pupils visualise texts they read or hear.

Active learning shines here through collaborative sketching and peer feedback sessions. When pupils share settings and discuss changes, they refine their choices and see multiple interpretations. Hands-on materials like crayons, watercolours, and story prompts make abstract mood concepts concrete, boosting confidence and retention in a playful, supportive way.

Key Questions

1. Construct a background that makes a story feel spooky or joyful.
2. Explain how details in a setting can provide clues about the story's events.
3. Predict how changing the setting from day to night would alter the story's mood.

Learning Objectives

• Create a background illustration that evokes a specific mood (spooky or joyful) based on story prompts.
• Explain how specific details within a drawn setting (e.g., weather, time of day) can suggest story events or character feelings.
• Compare and contrast the mood of a story setting illustrated during daytime versus nighttime.
• Identify key visual elements that contribute to the overall atmosphere of a story setting.

Before You Start

Basic Drawing Skills: Shapes and Lines

Why: Students need to be able to control lines and shapes to begin constructing background elements.

Color Mixing Basics

Why: Understanding how colors create different feelings is helpful before focusing on mood in settings.

Key Vocabulary

Setting	The place or time where a story happens. In art, this is shown through the background details.
Mood	The feeling or atmosphere that an artwork creates for the viewer. For example, a setting can feel spooky, happy, or calm.
Atmosphere	The overall feeling or mood of a place or scene, often created by elements like light, color, and weather.
Detail	A small part or element that adds specific information to a picture, like a single cloud, a shadow, or a window.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Any details work in a setting, regardless of mood.

What to Teach Instead

Settings need purposeful choices to match story mood, like jagged trees for spooky scenes. Peer sharing circles let pupils compare drawings and explain selections, revealing why random details confuse the context. This discussion builds intentional design skills.

Common Misconception

Drawings must look exactly realistic to show settings.

What to Teach Instead

Effective settings use simple shapes and colours to convey mood, not photorealism. Hands-on trials with varied media show pupils expressive styles work best. Group critiques help them value bold, imaginative marks over perfection.

Common Misconception

Weather and time do not change a story's feel.

What to Teach Instead

Shifts like day to night alter mood through light and colour. Prediction activities where pairs redraw scenes demonstrate this visually. Collaborative reveals help pupils articulate emotional impacts.

Active Learning Ideas

Stations Rotation: Mood Settings

Prepare four stations with story prompts: spooky forest, joyful picnic, rainy night, sunny beach. Pupils rotate in small groups every 10 minutes, drawing one setting per station using crayons or paints. Groups add two mood details like shadows or raindrops, then label their choices.

45 min·Small Groups

Pairs: Day to Night Flip

In pairs, pupils select a story scene and draw it in daylight with warm colours. They flip paper to redraw as night, adding cool tones, moon, and stars. Partners discuss and predict mood changes before sharing with the class.

30 min·Pairs

Whole Class: Setting Mural

Project a class story. Pupils contribute painted sections to a large mural: some do sky, others ground or weather. As a group, vote on details that best set the mood and adjust collaboratively.

50 min·Whole Class

Individual: Sketchbook Clues

Pupils choose a familiar story and sketch its setting in their books, noting three clues like time or weather. They paint over sketches, then explain orally how details hint at events.

25 min·Individual

Real-World Connections

• Concept artists for animated films like 'Klaus' or 'Paddington' design story settings. They use color, light, and detail to establish the mood and tell part of the story before any characters speak.
• Illustrators creating picture books for children carefully draw backgrounds. They ensure the setting matches the story's tone, whether it's a sunny meadow for a happy tale or a dark forest for an adventure.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Show students two simple background drawings, one with elements suggesting a happy mood (e.g., bright sun, flowers) and one with elements suggesting a spooky mood (e.g., dark clouds, bare trees). Ask students to point to the drawing that feels spooky and explain one detail that makes it feel that way.

Discussion Prompt

Present a simple story scenario, like 'A character is lost in the woods.' Ask students: 'What details could we add to the drawing of the woods to make it feel scary? What details could we add to make it feel peaceful?' Record their ideas on the board.

Peer Assessment

Have students draw a setting for a given story prompt (e.g., 'A magical castle'). Then, have them swap drawings with a partner. Ask each student to tell their partner one thing they like about the setting and one detail that helps them understand the story.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I introduce illustrating story settings to Year 1?

Start with shared reading of a picture book, pointing out setting details and their mood effects. Model a quick sketch changing day to stormy night on the board. Provide prompt cards with stories and moods for pupils to match visually, building from observation to creation in 10 minutes.

How can active learning help pupils grasp story settings?

Active approaches like station rotations and pair flips give direct practice with mood details, making connections tangible. Collaborative murals encourage feedback, where pupils justify choices and refine ideas. These methods surpass worksheets by engaging fine motor skills, discussion, and iteration, deepening understanding of how settings shape narratives over 4-6 lessons.

What materials work best for Year 1 setting drawings?

Use thick pencils, crayons, and washable watercolours for control and mess-free fun. Provide textured paper for weather effects like rain streaks. Pre-cut templates for tricky shapes build confidence. Rotate materials across activities to explore how they influence mood expression.

How to assess pupils' story setting illustrations?

Observe explanations of detail choices against key questions, like mood clues. Use simple rubrics: Can they name two details? Does the drawing match the mood? Peer feedback sessions reveal self-awareness. Collect in sketchbooks for progress tracking, noting growth in purposeful use of colour and line.