Invertebrate art HPGE enrichment program
Creative arts
Program
Students will collect invertebrates, observe their features and environment, and create artworks inspired by them. The artworks will include watercolours, scratch art, scientific drawings and a painted canvas.
Learning intention
- We are learning to identify invertebrates and their structural features.
- We are learning to represent the details of living things in artworks.
Activities
Invertebrate hunt
Students will work cooperatively to explore a variety of habitats and collect invertebrates using simple equipment.
Invertebrate art
Students examine the features of invertebrates using a range of magnifying equipment, paying particular attention to detail including numbers of legs, sections of the body, colour, shape, structure, texture and patterns found on the invertebrate.
After careful observation students will create an artwork on canvas. This will involve the use of a variety of media including rollers, pencil, cardboard and paint.
Bushwalk
The bushwalk will traverse a variety of environments from the moist vegetation found along the creeks to the dry woodland along the slopes of the reserve.
Students will observe the habitats where invertebrates can be found. Many invertebrate species will remain hidden during the walk so particular emphasis will be placed on looking for animal evidence such as tracks and sounds.
This program is only available to NSW Department of Education school students.
One day workshop - Stage 2 and 3
2025
Term 4 - Week 9
Tuesday 9th December - capacity 32 students (14 spots remaining)
2026
Term 1 - Week 3
Wednesday 11th February - capacity 32 students (32 spots remaining)
Additional dates coming soon.
Maximum 8 students per school (DoE schools only)
Location
Field of Mars Reserve
Main location – including risk assessment, maps and track overview.
Teachers or parents will need to drop off and pick up students.
Westminster Road alternate entrance
This entrance or exit offers access during severe high tides and heavy rainfall events that cause flooding on the main Pittwater Road entrance.
Essential information
| Cost |
$60 per student - GST free This will be processed through the student's home school. This program is only available to NSW Department of Education school students. |
| Transport | Schools are required to organise transport for students to and from the location. No vehicles are permitted into Field of Mars Reserve. |
| Staff | Teachers are not required to attend. |
| Bring | Sports uniform, art smock, backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes, reusable name tag. |
| View | Preparing for your excursion |
| Welfare |
Participants will be walking during the day on an accessible boardwalk. Wheelchair accessible. May not suit recently unwell participants. For medical or special needs notify staff prior to program. |
| Extreme or wet weather | Program may be modified, postponed or cancelled due to predicted extreme temperatures, bush fire danger, heavy rainfall, high winds or dust storms. |
| Booking policy | Confirm student details 7 days in advance. |
| Cancellation fee |
Less than 4 weeks notice – full cost Weather or fire danger cancellation – $0 |
| Time | Activities |
| 9.15 | Arrival |
| 9.30 - 10.00 | Introduction and ice breaker activities |
| 10.00 - 10.15 | Recess |
| 10.15 - 10.30 | Canvas preparation |
| 10.30 - 11.30 | Invertebrate investigation |
| 11.30 - 11.45 | 2nd canvas preparation |
| 11.45 - 12.15 | Lunch |
| 12.15 - 1.15 | Canvas painting |
| 1.15 - 2.00 | Bushwalk |
| 2.00 - 2.15 | Gallery walk |
| 2.15 | Depart |
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2024) - Stage 2
Visual arts
Outcome
- Makes artworks using art forms to represent subject matter and ideas, and describes ways artists convey ideas about their world to audiences through artworks CA2-VIS-01
Making: Artists represent their world through subject matter and ideas in artworks
- Represent subject matter and ideas in artworks, making choices based on own interpretations of the world
- Explore digital tools to make or manipulate still or moving images, text and/or sounds
- Explore balance, scale and proportion in compositions to represent subject matter and ideas
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2024) - Stage 3
Visual Arts
Outcomes
- Makes artworks in intentional ways to represent ideas about their world, and explains ways artists are influenced by contexts and how artworks are interpreted by audiences CA3-VIS-01
Content
Making: Artists represent their world in intentional ways through their artmaking practice
- Apply understandings of materials, digital technologies and processes to represent intended ideas in artworks
- Explore artistic conventions and ways to represent subject matter and ideas in compositions
- Demonstrate safe artmaking practices with respect for physical, social, digital and cultural safety
Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024
