Our Blog

Are you looking to further your artistic knowledge or become a better art teacher? Our blog posts are well researched and based on facts for students, teachers, parents or anyone looking to further their artistic knowledge. Put on the kettle and enjoy the reading...

Dinosaurs, Art and Critical Thinking

How can dinosaurs and art lessons help develop critical thinking skills!?

Creating artworks of pre-history

How can we illustrate what we have learnt about our world before there were written records, before we humans even existed? Depicting dinosaurs is one example. Artists create impressions of...

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Drawing on the Devotion of Dogs

It’s said that a dog is man’s best friend - ‘man’ referring, of course, to all of us - mankind.  From an early age we draw those we love most, those closest to us - our pets and people. Circles, lines and squiggles become more recognisable as drawings are enhanced...

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Illustrating Insects

So, what IS an insect and what isn’t and how can we draw insects? The simplest and quickest way to identify an insect is by checking it has six legs, three body parts and probably wings - like bees, beetles and butterflies. Spiders are NOT insects because they have eight legs, two body...

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How to Draw Birds (Beautiful Birds!)

I watched flashes of yellow, white and black as nearly a dozen beautiful little New Holland Honeyeaters flapped and fluttered and frolicked amongst the lime green leaves of my young Port Wine Magnolia bushes. Their twittering was a delight to hear as they enjoyed the cooling sensations of the...

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What's with the Weather?

Floods. Droughts. And something called La Niña or is it El Niño? La Niña means Little Girl and El Niño, Little Boy (in Spanish). A couple of mischievous kids playing with our weather!

Just like pranksters, we don’t always know what they are getting up to but we...

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Patterns for Learning

As parents and educators, we help children develop skills and understandings through teaching about patterns. Patterns are repeated designs which may be manufactured or appear in nature. Observing patterns can help develop the ability to predict and hypothesise. Creating patterns improves our...

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Colour in Art

As children start to pick up pencils, crayons and paint brushes they delight in changing colours. Becoming more proficient with their artworks, increasing awareness of what colour is and how to manipulate it to suit their purposes and feelings is something we can help them with.

One of the first...

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Our Connections to the Curriculum

Our website - online art lessons for teachers and parents to use with kids

Artventure has many sides to it, evolving over the years based on the needs of our members and feedback from the community. Starting as an online environment full of videos encouraging children to draw, this grew to...

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Growing with Change

Change is a natural part of life. However, children are experiencing a greater than usual number of these at the moment due to the CoVid-19 pandemic: restrictions in numbers and venues for birthday parties, limitations on seeing extended family, people wearing masks, lockdowns,...

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The Art of Travel and the Design of Transport

Let's talk about different forms of transport and how to kids can draw them!

From the dawn of time people have travelled from one place to another. We may move in centimetres, inches, yards, metres, miles, kilometres or, digitally, in pixels on a screen. Through developments in technology, modes...

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Our Connection with Places

During the CoVid-19 pandemic, our homes did at times become our world. Whether by choice or, more likely, restrictions we became more acutely aware of how our place looks and feels, and the facilities it offers us when we can barely go anywhere else. This connection with Place may...

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Living Sculptures - Playing with Plants

Viewing some of the amazing and beautiful gardens in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics brought to mind the role art and design can play in the way we manipulate and interact with plants. I thought of Bonsai and discovered Niwaki. I wondered about how clipping and shaping plants into artistic...

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Drawing on Farm Life

My childhood was spent in country towns with family and friends living on farms: dairy, potato, wheat, sheep… As a teenager I accompanied my father as he travelled outback Australia in a 4WD visiting the remote cattle stations. Country life, particularly farm life, involves a lot of...

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Art Activities in Autumn

In Australia, Autumn is from March to May. This cooler season between Summer and Winter is referred to as Fall in America and, being in the Northern Hemisphere, occurs from September to November.

Wherever you are, this is a colourful time when the leaves on the deciduous trees turn from green to...

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What is it about water?

Water! We need it. We use it. We play with it.

We want to live by the sea and holiday by the river. We build bridges to go over it and boats to go on it. We create dams and weirs to collect it. We need it for drinking and cooking, washing and cleaning. Architects, engineers, designers and...

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Babies in Art

We have a new baby in our family! So I started thinking about how our growing family like to take pictures of the children and their antics. When our extended family is together, there are lots of photos and I was reflecting on what it is about babies and infants that we find so appealing....

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How do we know what fairies look like?

The tooth fairy has been busy recently in the homes of many 6 year olds - one, I know well! Made me think about fairies and how we know what they look like - through artwork, of course, in many classical stories.

Fairies in the garden. The tooth fairy. Tinker bell. Fairy godmother. Fairies can be...

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Starting School

‘Art’ you ready…!?

Art can play such an important role in education but let's start at the beginning!

Five and in Foundation 

In Australia, children start school at about the age of 5: maybe not quite, or already 5. This first year of school is nationally...

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Stories of Santa

So this is Christmas and what do we know…
Who was Saint Nick and why Santa in snow?

So many stories, songs, images. Even if you’ve heard these stories before, I like to revisit them at this time of the year and perhaps pick up a new little insight.

From the secret gift-giver in...

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Where did the Christmas Tree come from?

Why do we bring a tree inside our house at Christmas time and hang things on it…? Do you use a real fir or spruce tree or a fake one?! Some Christmas trees used in stores, and in homes, are huge! Then there are all the choices for decorations - merchandising gone mad. I start to think...

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‘Fauna’, ‘Animal’ or ‘Mammal’ Emblems of Australia?

Floral, fauna, bird, mammal, fish, fossil… The states and territories of Australia have each selected emblems in these various categories. Why did they do this? Why were the symbols they selected, chosen? And what’s the difference between the terms fauna, animal, and mammal?

...

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The Art and Science of Seasons

Capturing ‘on canvas’ the changes around us as our world warms and cools can help us understand and appreciate the science behind the seasons. Looking around, what elements can we add to an artwork that represent what’s happening in nature because of the changes in weather...

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Picturing classic children’s books from the UK

The fantasy world of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan and Wendy in Neverland; the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington Bear; the escapades of Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor’s garden and Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad in The Wind...

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Aboriginal Artists

Image incorporated above sourced from ABC

"I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present." These are the words often used now when people in Australia hold official meetings. The land I...

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