Prehistoric painting
Exploring prehistoric art; experimenting with colour mixing to recreate artwork in the style of cave artists; developing art skills and understanding of prehistory.
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- Cambridge Primary Art & Design >
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Unit 2: Painting and mixed media: Prehistoric painting
Unit outcomes
Learners who are secure will be able to:
- Recognise the processes involved in creating prehistoric art.
- Explain approximately how many years ago prehistoric art was produced.
- Use simple shapes to build initial sketches.
- Create a large scale copy of a small sketch.
- Use charcoal to recreate the style of cave artists.
- Demonstrate good understanding of colour mixing.
- Discuss the differences between prehistoric and modern paint.
- Make choices about equipment or paint to recreate features of prehistoric art, experimenting with colours and textures.
- Successfully make positive and negative handprints in a range of colours.
- Apply knowledge of colour mixing to make natural colours.
Suggested prior learning
Unit 2: Painting and mixed media: Life in colour
This assumes that you are following Kapow Cambridge’s Art & design Long-term plan – standard.
Lessons
Lesson 1: Exploring prehistoric art
- To create an animal drawing in the style of prehistoric cave paintings.
Lesson 2: Charcoal animals
- To scale up a drawing to create a large charcoal artwork.
Lesson 3: Prehistoric palette
- To explore how natural materials make different colours.
Lesson 4: Painting on the cave wall
- To select and apply a range of painting techniques.
Lesson 5: Hands on a cave wall
- To apply painting skills and work collaboratively to recreate a prehistoric artwork.
Key skills
Experiencing:
- E.01 Encounter, sense,
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Key vocabulary
cave
charcoal
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Related content
Resources
Unit resources


Art and design
Vocabulary display – Art and design S3: Painting and mixed media: Prehistoric painting
A display version of the unit vocabulary.