Celebrate Black History Month in your primary school through creative activities* exploring the contributions of diverse artists. These six easy-to-adapt Art & design lessons, each focusing on a different influential Black artist, offer a fantastic opportunity for pupils to connect with Black History Month in a hands-on, engaging way. Inspire creativity and a deeper understanding of Black history and identity among your pupils.

*Some activities feature links to external websites. We do not have control over their content, so please check before showing them to children.

Nature Art with Chris Ofili

Age Group: EYFS

Focus artist: Chris Ofili, known for his vibrant, layered artworks and use of natural materials.

Learning Objective:
Explore texture and nature using different natural art materials.

Activity: 

• This activity is an adapted version of the Seasonal Craft – Autumn wreaths lesson. 
• Take the children outside to collect leaves, small sticks, flowers, or any natural materials they find. 
• Show them how Chris Ofili incorporates different textures into his work. 
• Back in the classroom, ask the children to create a nature collage by glueing their found materials onto paper and decorating around them with paint or crayons.

Materials:
Paper, glue, natural objects (leaves, flowers), paint or crayons.

Extension:
Encourage children to touch and feel the textures in their collages and talk about the different materials they used.

Exploring Colour and Emotion with Alma Thomas

Age Group: Key Stage 1

Focus Artist: Alma Thomas, an African-American artist known for her vibrant abstract paintings.

Learning Objective:
Understand how colours can represent emotions and use them to express feelings in an abstract art piece.

Activity:

• Show examples of Alma Thomas’s work, such as Resurrection and Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses. 
• Discuss how Thomas uses colour to evoke emotions. 
• Ask the children to create their own abstract art using concentric circles or mosaic-like shapes, focusing on expressing feelings such as happiness, sadness, or excitement through colour. 
• The children can use cut or torn coloured paper, paint, or a combination.

Materials:
Coloured paper, paint, glue, scissors, and markers.

Extension:
Children can write one or two sentences explaining how their colour choices reflect specific emotions.

Celebrating African Heritage with Yinka Shonibare

Age Group: Adaptable for KS1 and KS2

Focus Artist: Yinka Shonibare, known for using African textiles and exploring themes of colonialism and identity. Learn more about Yinka Shonibare

Learning Objective:
Understand how textile art represents and reflects culture and heritage.

Activity:

• Show examples of Shonibare’s work, highlighting his use of vibrant African fabrics. 
• Explore a range of African fabrics with the children, encouraging them to draw inspiration from the patterns and colours. 
• Ask the children to design their own patterns on paper inspired by traditional African textiles. 
• Use these designs to create a mixed-media collage celebrating their heritage or family.

Materials:
Coloured paper, fabric scraps, markers, glue.

Extension:
The children can discuss their heritage and explain how their artwork reflects their background.

Exploring Light and Shadow with Kara Walker

Age Group: Adaptable for KS1 and KS2

Focus Artist: Kara Walker is known for using black-and-white silhouettes to explore contrast and storytelling.

Learning Objective:
Explore the concept of light and shadow by creating silhouette art.

Activity:

• Introduce Kara Walker’s silhouette art, focusing on how she uses contrast to create impactful images. 
• Ask the children to draw or cut out silhouette shapes (e.g. people, animals, objects) and arrange them on a bright background. 
• Encourage them to consider how shadows can convey movement and drama in their compositions.

Materials:
Black paper, white or brightly coloured paper, scissors, glue.

Extension:
Discuss the real-life effects of light and shadow, encouraging children to observe and recreate shadow patterns in their artwork.

Creating Pattern and Story with Bisa Butler

Age Group: Key Stage 2

Focus Artist: Bisa Butler is known for her vibrant quilted portraits that tell stories of African-American life.

Learning Objective:
Explore how patterns and colours can be used to create portraits that tell a story.

Activity:

• Introduce Bisa Butler’s textile art and explain how she uses fabric to create portraits. 
• Ask the children to design a portrait of someone they admire using patterned paper or fabric scraps. 
• Discuss how storytelling in art can reflect the person’s life or achievements and influence the colours, patterns, and materials used in their artwork.

Materials:
Paper, patterned fabric or paper, glue, scissors.

Extension:
Children can write a short paragraph explaining the story behind their portrait.

Movement and Line with Jean-Michel Basquiat

Age Group: Upper Key Stage 2

Focus Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat, known for his bold, expressive, graffiti-inspired style.

Find out more about Jean-Michel Basquiat

Learning Objective:
Explore how lines and movement can create energy in a piece of art.

Activity:

• Show examples of Basquiat’s work, focusing on his use of expressive lines and symbols. 
• Encourage children to think about their identity and culture and how they might express these through colours, marks, and symbols. 
• Ask them to create an energetic piece of artwork using lines, shapes, and symbols to represent their identity or culture, embracing a free-flowing, spontaneous style like Basquiat’s.

Materials:
Large sheets of paper, oil pastels, crayons, and markers.

Extension:
Children can add symbols or words to reflect their thoughts or feelings about identity.

If you enjoy these activities, why not explore Kapow Primary’s award-winning Art & design scheme?

Kapow Primary Art & design lessons feature a number of diverse artists, including:

Year 2: Painting and mixed-media: Life in colour
Use the work of Romare Bearden to inspire collages in key stage 1.

Year 4: Sculpture: Recycle and recreate
Learn about the work of El Anatsui and create your own 3D sculpture using recycled materials.

Year 6: Painting: Frank Bowling
Create a piece of abstract art using techniques similar to those of Frank Bowling.

Using art as a medium to celebrate Black History Month not only makes learning memorable and engaging for pupils but also provides an excellent opportunity for vibrant display work. Whether you focus on a single artist for each year group or introduce a couple of artists across the school, there’s something that will inspire every child to explore the richness and diversity of Black history and culture through art.