Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants

Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants Notes for Teachers In order to improve and develop this resource, we would welcome any suggestions / additions to these notes that you may have. Please email you feedback/ comments to; [email protected] Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….……………………3 Introduction Why visit the Exhibition Visiting the Exhibition ……………………………………………….....………………………….…3-­‐4 Activity Booklets Things to Tell the Class Quick Nick Facts A Brief Biography of Nick Sharratt About the Exhibition ……………………………………………………..……………………………….6 All About Nick ……………………………………………………………………………………………7-­‐12 All About Nick How Nick Works Growing Up College Days Creating a Book Illustrating a Front Cover Food…………………………………………………………………………………………………………13-­‐15 A Big Dollop of the Red Stuff I Don’t Like Peas Jacqueline Wilson’s Fascination with Food Clothes……………………………………………………………………………………………………..16-­‐18 It’s Dress Up Time This Bit is Really Pants Tracy Beaker Superstar By The Sea……………………………………………………………………………………….……….19-­‐21 Pirate Pete and Pals I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside Jacqueline Wilson By The Sea Animals………………………………………………………………………………………………….…22-­‐24 Let The Music Play Big Ears and Big Feet Fastest Dog in the World Other Elements to the Exhibition…………………………………………………………….25-­‐28 Nick’s Studio Dressing Up Area Create Your Own Sharracter Reading Area and You Choose Comic Façade Drawing Area 2 Introduction ‘Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants – The Illustrated World of Nick Sharratt’ has been designed and produced by Leach Colour Ltd, in conjunction with 20-­‐21 Visual Arts Centre -­‐ Scunthorpe, darts -­‐ Doncaster and The Civic -­‐ Barnsley with funding from Arts Council England. It is a touring exhibition that will be shown by at least seven galleries around the country. Why Visit this Exhibition? This exhibition has been designed to appeal to a wide age range of pupils and students, from foundation children through to students studying for a degree in illustration. The exhibition is colourful, humorous and interactive and provides an accessible and memorable experience for first time gallery visitors. This resource has been developed primarily with key stage 1 and 2 children in mind but many of the suggested activities and topics for discussion can easily be adapted for both younger and older children. This information includes an image of each exhibition panel, along with suggested topics for discussion and activities whilst in the gallery, as well as suggested follow up activites to do when you get back to the classroom. A visit to this exhibition may provide the starting point for a wide range of creative work, not just relating to art and design, but also for english and maths. Visiting the Exhibition Activity Booklets There are three activity books available for children to complete when they visit. These are available to download from the Showstoppers website www.showstoppers.org.uk. They are loosely aimed at foundation, KS1 and KS2 children. The foundation booklet can be identified by the black square in the top right hand corner of the front cover, the KS1 booklet has a black circle on the front cover and KS2 has a black triangle on it. Because of the size of the display panels, it is difficult to fit a whole class around them in one go. If you are doing a self-­‐guided class visit, we recommend that you split the class in to at least two groups so that they can see the panels properly. If children are completing the activity booklets, we recommend that the class is split in to groups of 3 to 4 children and each group be given a different set of panels to look at; group 1 – red panels, group 2 – blue panels, group 3 – yellow panels, etc. 3 Foundation children and younger KS1 children will need assistance from an adult to complete the booklet. We recommend that each group of children should be accompanied by an adult who can assist them when needed. These teachers notes and the activity booklets make reference to the whole exhibition. Due to limited space at some venues, it may not be possible to display the entire exhibition. Please check with a member of staff at the venue you wish to visit, which elements of the exhibition are on display before your visit. Things to Tell the Class All the pictures in frames which look like this are original pieces of artwork which have been drawn and painted by Nick. The exhibition includes a reading area where a wide selection of books that Nick has written and illustrated are available to browse through and read. Quick Nick Facts Born: 1962 Favourite subject at school: art Least favourite subject at school: P.E. Favourite colours: blue and yellow. Favourite animal to draw: elephants. First book he illustrated: Noisy Poems (1987) 4 A Brief Biography of Nick Sharratt Nick was born in Bexleyheath, Greater London on 9 August 1962. He grew up in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester.
He went to St Louis (Kindergarten) and St Edmunds Primary School in Bury St Edmunds, Roundwood Junior School (now called Arnbrook)in Arnold, Nottingham and Abbey Gates Primary School in Ravenshead, Notts. Nick is a British illustrator and author of children’s books. He began his career as a magazine illustrator, working for publications on every subject from accountancy to yoga. His drawings have also been used on packaging, clothing, furniture and even cakes and lollipops but since the mid 1990s he has concentrated on children’s books. He has illustrated over 200, around 40 of which he has also written. Nick trained in graphic design at Central St Martins between 1981 and 1984. He takes a lot of his inspiration from the pop and graphic art of the 1960s which he experienced as a child and he likes to use vibrant colours and bold patterns in his pictures. Humour is a major element of his work. He has illustrated books for numerous writers including Julia Donaldson, Michael Rosen, Giles Andreae and Jeremy Strong. The picture books he has illustrated have sold more than nine million copies. His most famous collaboration is with Jacqueline Wilson, for whom he has illustrated more than 40 books, the UK sales of which now exceed thirty million. He was also involved in the animation for the hugely successful BBC Tracy Beaker series, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s novel, ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’. His own books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and his work has won several prizes including the Children’s Book Award, the Nestle Book Prize, the Educational Writer’s Award, The Stockport Schools Book Award, the Somerset Fiction Award, Experian Award, the Right Start Book Award, the Under Fives SHE / WH Smith Award, The Word’s Out Picture Book Prize, The Portsmouth Book Award, the Nottingham Libraries Children’s Book Award, The Oxfordshire Book Award, and the Southampton Favourite Book to Share Award. Most recently ‘You Choose’ was voted ‘Best Picture Book Ever’ by York Libraries. Nick’s work has been exhibited throughout the UK and in Italy, Japan and the USA. In 2006 Nick was the official illustrator for World Book Day and in 2009 he was honoured with a gold Blue Peter Badge! 5 About the Exhibition The exhibition is divided into five main themes; All About Nick, Food, Animals, By the Sea and Clothes. Here are images of the content of the exhibition, along with notes, ideas and suggestions on how to use the exhibition with your class. Introductory Character Montage Panel Points for Discussion Whilst Visiting the Exhibition Ask your class if they recognise any of the characters on this panel. Do they have a favourite character? Can they name any of the books that these characters feature in? How many different types of food can they see on this panel? Ask your class why they think the exhibition is called ‘Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants’. Can they think of a better name for the exhibition? Ask them to describe Nick’s illustrations. Get them to think of different words that have the same or a similar meanings such as; Bright, colourful, vibrant, lively. Bold, eye-­‐catching, striking. Funny, cheerful, humorous, comical, happy, amusing, entertaining, hilarious. Think about the opposites of these words. 6 All About Nick This panel introduces the exhibition and Nick. It includes photos of Nick from when he was a young boy, right through to the present day. The panel also includes a video presentation of Nick talking about his childhood and his love of drawing. The second panel includes a photo of Nick holding a drawing he did when he was nine. He took it in to school to show his teacher who pinned it up in the school hall. Nick sites this as a very important moment in his life – this was when Nick decided he wanted to be a professional artist when he was older. The street scene in Altrincham, which Nick did when he was 15, was inspired by the artist LS Lowry. Points for Discussion Ask the children whether they think Nick was good at art when he was a child and get them to explain their answers. Ask the children to compare and contrast the painting of the market square done by Nick with the painting done by Lowry. Get the children to take it in turns to do the ‘Can you find any of these people in the picture?’ activity. 7 Classroom Activities Ask the children to find out about the artist LS Lowry and find more examples of his work. Ask the children to do their own timelines with photos of themselves. Divide the class into groups and ask each group to do a street scene. For older children, talk about the use of perspective and how to create it and use words like ‘foreground’ and ‘background’. Talk about the picture that Nick did when he was 9 years old. He was very proud when his teacher pinned it up in the school hall. Ask the class to talk about / write about something they have done that they have been proud of. Link the fact that Nick knew he wanted to be an illustrator by the age of 9 to the ‘You Choose’ book. There is a page in the book ‘Is there a job you’d like to do’. Get children to say / write / draw what their dream job would be. This page has been reproduced at the back of this resource. Copy it and cut the different jobs out. Give each child a job and ask them to mime it to the rest of the class to see if they can guess what it is. Talk about the differences between artists and illustrators and different kinds of creative jobs. Examples include; graphic designers, theatre and set designers, costume designers, fashion designers, fine artists, sculptors, painters, curators, exhibition designers, jewellery designers, ceramicists, etc. 8 How Nick Works Look at the different materials that Nick uses to create his work. Ask the children which is their favourite artwork / material and ask them to explain why they like it. Find out which of the different materials the children have used. Ask the children to watch the video about how Nick creates an image and the techniques he uses. Look at the illustrations for ‘Never Use a Knife and Fork’ and ask some class members to read the rhymes aloud. Find ‘Never Use a Knife and Fork’ in the reading area of the exhibition and read the whole poem to the class. Ask children to come up with some more disgusting food rhymes of their own such as; ‘stick mushy peas on your nose, dribble cold custard between your toes’. Ask children to name some foods that would be difficult to eat with a Knife and fork / that they would never eat with a knife and fork; Jelly, ice cream, yoghurt, pizza, cake, biscuits, apple, grapes, etc. Nick likes to eat a Belgian bun when he needs inspiration. Find out what children like to eat when they need inspiration. 9 Back in the Classroom Working in small groups, ask children to write down and illustrate the food rhyme they thought of in the gallery. Now see if the separate rhymes can be put together to make one large rhyme. Ask the children to pick a well known fairytale and get them to illustrate an important scene from the story using different materials. Examples include; Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella. Put the pictures on the wall and ask the children to see if they can name the story by looking at the drawings. Think about the different effects and properties of different art materials. Make a range of different materials available for the children to try. Growing Up Look at the original artwork ‘Royal Family’. Ask the class: Why do they think everyone is stood on the chairs? What is wrong with the picture? What do they think the cat should be doing? Do they think the people in the drawing are rich or poor? Why do they think this? Is it a drawing of ‘modern’ people? Why do they think this? Look at the ‘Amazing Sharratt Family in Space’ comic strip. Look at the ‘sound effect’ words like ‘crash’, ‘thump’, ‘AAAHHH!’. Can they think of any others? Biff, kapow, thwack, bam, clang. Do they know what this type of word is called – ‘onamatopoeic’. Back in the Classroom Ask children to do their own comic strip which includes sound effect words and speech bubbles. Ask children to think of onamatopoeic words for animals; quack, woof, moo, baa, etc and onamatopoeic words for machinery; beep, whirr, zap. 10 College Days Look at the drawings that Nick did when he was at college, including the self portrait and then look at the illustrations he did for magazines when he started working. Ask the children how they think his drawing style has changed. What are the differences? Back in the classroom Ask children to do a self-­‐portrait of themselves as homework but ask them not to put their names on the front of the drawings. Pin them on the wall and get children to name the portraits. Ask children to draw a portrait of themselves in their own style and then ask them to do a portrait of themselves in the style of Nick Sharratt. Ask them to explain the difference. Creating a Book Ask the children to look at the mock ups from the books and compare them with the real books. Look at the illustration for Alphabet Ice Cream. Why do they think Nick used a Viking for the letter V rather than a van? 11 Illustrating a Front Cover Talk about why the cover of a book is so important; it needs to give the reader a good idea about the story inside, it needs to be appealing to make them want to read the book, it needs to be eye-­‐catching to make them pick it off the shelf in a library or shop. Talk about the phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. Ask the class what they think this saying might mean. Back in the classroom Using the story map in the back of this resource, ask children to plan a short story and then write and illustrate it. Ask them to design the front cover last. Ask children to swap their finished book with a classmate and get them to read and review their story. Did the front cover give them a good idea about the story inside? Was there a main character in the story? Was there a happy ending? Ask children to bring in their favourite book and discuss why it is their favourite. Ask them to redesign the cover based on their favourite bit of the book. 12 A Big Dollop of the Red Stuff Food is one of Nick’s favourite subjects when he’s creating his own books. Find ‘Ketchup on your Cornflakes?’ in the reading area and read the book to the class. Can they think of any more disgusting food combinations? Talk about Nick’s still life drawing of the weekly shop. See if children can recognise any of the items in the picture. Back in the classroom Ask each child to bring in an item of food to create a still life of their own and then ask them to draw it. 13 I don’t Like Peas Daisy doesn’t like to eat peas. Ask children what they don’t like to eat and find out what it would take to make them eat it. Look at the different expressions on Daisy’s face. Ask the children to say how they think Daisy is feeling each time. Look at the way Nick draws Daisy’s face. He only uses a few dots and a couple of lines on many of the faces. Just by changing the position and shape of these dots and lines, he can completely change Daisy’s mood. Back in the Classroom Do a poll of the vegetables that children like and don’t like. Pick 4 or 5 vegetables and find out which are the class’s favourite and least favourite vegetables. (Carrots, peas, brocolli, sweetcorn). Ask the children to draw a bar chart to represent the results of the poll. Using small marks such as dots for eyes and lines for a nose and mouth, experiment with trying to draw different expressions on a face; happy, sad, surprised, cross, embarrassed, naughty. Using Super Daisy as a starting point, ask children to design their own superhero costume. Who would they be? What super power would they have. What would they be afraid of? Where would they come from / where would they live? How would they use their superpower? Whom or what would they save? Persuasive writing: Write an advert for radio or for a label on the back of a tin to persuade someone to buy and eat peas. Using large cardboard tubes, make some pretend tins. Ask children to design the label for the front of the tin and writing for the back of the tin. 14 Jacqueline Wilson’s Fascination with Food Ask the children to spot all the different foods that Nick has used on Jacqueline Wilson’s book covers. See whether the children can recognise any of the black and white illustrations on the second panel. Ask children to use the key to find out which books the illustrations come from. Look at illustration number 4 from ‘Starring Tracy Beaker’. Does this look like a traditional Christmas dinner? Working in small groups, give each group an illustration between 12 and 23 and ask them to say briefly what they think is happening in each illustration. In the Classroom Look at the work of Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimbolo (1527 -­‐ 1593) who painted portrait heads using fruit. Photograph some fruit and make collage faces using the pictures of fruit. Look at the different foods eaten for celebratory meals in different cultures. 15 It’s Dress Up Time Ask the children if they like dressing up and what they like to dress up as. Ask children if they know what a disguise is and why a person might wear one. Back in the Classroom Talk about when and why people might wear costumes – a fancy dress party, World Book Day, school play or pantomime. Actors wear costumes to show that a play or film is set in a different time, either in the past or the future. You could also look at uniforms and special clothing for specific jobs; astronaut – space suit, a knight -­‐ armour, army – combat uniform, police officer – helmet, walkie, talkie, protective vest. 16 This Bit is Really Pants Listen to the recording of Lenny Henry singing the pants rhyme in lots of different musical styles. Can they identify the different musical styles? Ask the children to make up some more pants rhymes. Back in the classroom Read the ‘Pants’ and ‘More Pants’ books in class. Create a new pants rhyme and make pants to go with it. Write the rhyme on the pants and string them up on a washing line around the classroom. Have a go at singing the pants rhyme or putting it to music. 17 Tracy Beaker Superstar Ask the children if they know who Tracy Beaker is. The Story of Tracy Beaker is told from the point of view of Tracy who is a 10 year old girl with a wild imagination, who lives in care. Explain what gouache is – a chalk-­‐based watercolour paint. What do they like about Tracy Beaker and the way she is drawn. Tracy Beaker doesn’t have many clothes and would be really pleased to see all the clothes and accessories that feature her on them. Ask the children to think of other clothes and accessories that could feature Tracy Beaker on them. Back in the classroom Using the template provided in this resource, get them to design a special outfit for Tracy and say when she would wear it. If children prefer, they can also use the Pirate Pete template instead. 18 Pirate Pete and Pals Ask children to look at the pirate boats and see if they can say which way the wind is blowing. How do they know this? Ask the children to think about pirate themed words, phrases and sayings; eye patch, skull and crossbones, pieces of eight, parrots, wooden leg, Davy Jones’ Locker, cutlass, doubloon, landlubber, mutiny, booty, scallywag, stern, walk the plank, Jolly Roger, Ahoy!, Yo, ho, ho!, Avast!, Aye!, Aye, Aye! Look for some pirate books in the reading area. Back in the classroom Make a pirate treasure map -­‐ Age some paper by painting it with a solution of cold tea and leave to dry. Ask children to draw an island with a trail to the the treasure on it. For older children, look at the points on a compass. Age some paper and get them to draw a grid of 2cm squares on it. Each square represents a pace. Get them to draw an island on the paper. Mark where the treasure is buried and where the pirates landed on the island and then ask the children to write some directions from the pirate boat to the treasure i.e, 3 paces north, 2 paces south, 4 paces west. Talk about poems and rhymes. Explain that not all poems rhyme. Some poems and rhymes tell stories. The rhymes and the rhythm made the stories easier to remember and pass on to other people. Talk about poetry and storytelling. Before writing and books were common, people used narrative poetry to tell stories. 19 I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside Nick enjoys drawing seaside pictures because his favourite colours are blue and yellow – the colour of sea and sand. Ask children what their favourite colours are and why they like them. Do their favourite colours remind them of anything. Talk about how colours can remind you of certain things and words (Colour symbolism); Red – blood, Christmas, danger, warmth, engergy, love. Green – clean, grass, trees, peas, aliens, go, greed. Blue – sky, sea, cold. Gold – royalty, rich, buried treasure. White – snow, ice, weddings, etc. Look at the illustration from ‘Toddle Waddle’. This includes lots of onamatopaeic words. Ask the children if they can think of any other sounds that things in the picture might make. Ask the children what they like to do when they are at the seaside. Back in the Classroom Following on from the theme of colours, think about the colour of food, and the colour of packaging used to wrap different products. What colours are mostly used for cleaning products / chocolate bars, etc. Ask the children to research the meaning of colours, especially in different cultures. Look at a map of Great Britain and identify famous seaside towns; Blackpool, Scarborough, Whitby, Skegness, Mablethorpe, Brighton, Tenby, Llandudno, South End. Think about famous landmarks and events at these places, Blackpool Tower and illuminations, Whitby Abbbey – (which helped inspire Bram Stoker’s story, Dracula), the Scarborough Spa, etc. 20 Jacqueline Wilson by the Sea Talk about writing postcards and ask if any of the children have written and posted a postcard. Talk about writing letters and postcards and ask if they can think of other ways that people communicate with each other; telephone, text, email, Skype, Facetime, etc. Look at Nick’s silhouette picture for Sapphire Battersea. Ask the children if they think this is a modern picture. Do they know what the wheeled boxes at the bottom of the picture are? (Bathing machines or bathing carriages, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries – which allowed women to get changed into their bathing costumes. The carriage was then pulled into the sea, usually by a horse, so that the person inside could get into the water without being seen in their bathing costume). In the classroom Using black sugar paper, ask the children to create their own seaside silhouette picture. Ask children to write a holiday postcard to persuade someone that they wished they were there on holiday with them. 21 Let the Music Play Press the button and listen to the musical instruments. Get the children to name them. Ask the children if they can think of any other instruments and animals that could play them. Using the musical instruments provided, ask the children to see if they can make noises that represent the way certain animals move; scampering mouse, galloping horse, slithering snake, stomping elephant. In the classroom Working in pairs, ask one child to describe an animal without naming it. Get the other child to draw it and guess what kind of animal it is. 22 Big Ears and Big Feet Elephants are Nick’s favourite animal to draw. Look at the elephants that Nick has designed and ask the children if they can think of some of their own. Ask them to draw their ideas on the drawing wall. Ask a few quick maths questions; If there were 5 elephants in a room, how many elephant legs would there be? If you looked under the bed and saw 12 elephant legs, how many elephants are hiding under the bed? If there were 8 elephants in a room, how many elephant ears would there be? In the classroom Have a go at drawing an elephant with your eyes closed. 23 The Fastest Dog in the World Look at the illustration of the market scene from The Hundred Mile An Hour Dog book. Ask the children what they think has just happened. The Hundred Mile An Hour Dog is called Streaker, which would suggest that he is fast. Can they think of other names for him, that would also suggest that he can run quickly? Looking at the pictures on the panel, do the children think that Streaker is a good, obedient dog or a naughty dog? Ask the children if they have a pet of their own. In the classroom Get children to draw their own pet or a pet of a friend or relative. Ask children to write a funny story about this pet. Working in pairs, ask one child to describe their pet and the other draw it. Nick created an illustration faithful to the real dog that inspired the story. Discuss books that are based on true stories. Talk about different types of fiction; how some is true to life (Jacqueline Wilson books) and some is make-­‐believe (fairy stories). 24 Other Follow Up Activities Nick has illustrated a book for Jacqueline Wilson called ‘Cliff Hanger’. Talk about what a ‘cliff hanger’ is when writing a book. Get children to write a cliff hanger paragraph using ellipses…Get them to swap their paragraphs with a partner and ask them to finish the story. Read the best ones out at the end of the session. Make a Nick Sharratt Cootie Catcher with You Choose pictures on. Work with a partner and choose your images. Now write a story incorporating the chosen images. Other Elements to the Exhibition Nick’s Studio Children can use the three lightboxes to trace Nick’s drawings. Dressing up Area Children can try on a range of neoprene costumes. 25 Create Your Own Sharracter Using the touchscreen, children can create their own ‘Sharracter’ from a range of options. Reading Area A large selection of Nick’s books are available for children to browse through and read. 26 You Choose Area The You Choose area is an extension of the reading area and can be used to gather children together. There is a rug, and specially designed beanbags and seats in both areas for children to sit on. Comic Facade Children can place their heads through the 3 holes and have their photograph taken. 27 Drawing Wall Children can draw on this ‘wipe clean’ wall in the gallery. Ideas for using the Drawing Wall Pictionary -­‐ Write some words onto separate pieces of paper – animals, people doing things, clothes, food, etc. Ask a child to pick one out of a bucket and give them 30 seconds to draw it. The other children then have to guess what the drawing is. The person who guesses correctly, gets to do the next drawing. 28 My Story Map
Who is your main character?
Where will your
story take place?
Adjective list
Main issue. Is there a problem? what is the main theme of the
story? What will make people want to read your story?
Use this map to
plan your story.
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Who will be the…
Author
Illustrator
What is the outcome of the
story? How will it end? Will
there be a surprise ending?
What action will happen? How will the main issue
be resolved. What will make the story move on but
keep people wanting to read more?
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Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants | The Illustrated World of Nick Sharratt
Pirates, Pants and Wellyphants is a touring exhibition
designed and produced by Leach Colour in conjunction
with Nick Sharratt, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe,
darts, Doncaster and The Civic, Barnsley.
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