Bright Daisies on a Terracotta Pot

Time to swap paper for something you can actually plant in. Your child will paint a terracotta pot with cheerful daisies, dots and a band of colour around the rim. We will show them how to get paint to sit nicely on clay so it lasts.

These make brilliant presents, especially with something growing in them. Every pot goes home the same day.

A Big Blue Whale and a Sea of Colour

Oil pastels are bold, buttery and wonderfully easy to blend with your fingers. Your child will draw a smiling whale gliding through a bright underwater world of bubbles, seaweed and coral. We will cover layering colours and scratching back through them to reveal what is underneath.

The whole page ends up glowing with colour, right to the very edges. It is a hard one to stop working on.

Handmade Cards Nobody Throws Away

Shop bought cards are fine. Handmade ones get kept in a drawer for twenty years. Your child will paint a cheerful watercolour moose with baubles hanging from his antlers, then flick on a scatter of festive splatter.

They will make a few to send out to family and friends. We will have card blanks, envelopes and plenty of ideas ready to go.

Paint a Stocking That Comes Out Every Year

Beverley is making up plain stockings so every child has one ready to decorate. Your child will paint a snowy Christmas tree down the front, using a dry brush to get that lovely frosted texture. Gold dots, a star on top, and a name along the cuff if they would like one.

It is a proper keeper, the kind of thing that comes out of the box every December. Hang it up the same night.

A Little Penguin for the Tree

Painting on a curved glass bauble is trickier than paper, and a good deal more fun. Your child will paint a little penguin in a Santa hat and spotty scarf, with snowflakes dotted all around him. We will show them how to steady the bauble and build the design up in layers.

It goes straight onto the tree that night. Those are always the decorations that get talked about.

Turn a Pinecone Into a Tiny Christmas Tree

We are finishing the term with something gathered from outside: pinecones. Your child will paint one bright green, dot it all over with pompom baubles, and top it off with a glittery gold star. It sits on a little base, ready for the mantelpiece.

It is a satisfying, hands on last class with a real prize at the end. A lovely way to wrap up the year.

A Big Beaked Toucan and a Juice Box

We start the term with a canvas, a juice box and a very cheerful toucan. Your child will paint him perched on a branch in a jungle of pink and purple flowers, with that enormous orange beak taking up half the picture. Beverley shows them how to block in the turquoise background first and build the bird on top, so nothing goes muddy.

It's a relaxed first class where everyone gets to know each other. They'll walk out with a finished canvas on day one.

A Chameleon in Every Colour at Once

Chameleons are supposed to blend in. Ours does the opposite, with stripes of every colour in the paint box and a tail that curls right round into a spiral. Your child will let the watercolour run from one band into the next, then draw in the bulging eyes and the big stitched grin with pen once it's dry.

It's the perfect way to learn how much water is too much. Every chameleon comes out different, and the odd ones are the best ones.

A Rainbow Fish, Soft and Smudgy

Soft pastels are made for small fingers, because the whole point is to smudge. Your child will draw a round golden fish with rainbow fins and tail, then blend the colours into each other until they glow. Bubbles, coral and a wash of blue water finish it off.

Expect dusty hands and a page full of colour. Beverley will show them how to layer light over dark so the fish really pops.

Build a Cat Out of Circles and Triangles

“I can't draw” usually means nobody has shown them this yet. Your child will learn that almost anything can be broken into simple shapes: a circle for the head, triangles for the ears, a diamond for the body and one long curve for the tail. Put them together and there's a cat sitting on the page.

Once they've cracked the cat, they can try the same trick on anything. It's a small idea that lasts for years.

Their Name on the Door, Painted by Them

Every kid wants their name on their bedroom door, so this week they make it happen. Your child will paint a round wooden sign with their name in big curly letters, then add bees, daisies and sweeps of pink and blue around the edge. We'll have the blanks, the paint and the ribbon for hanging all ready to go.

It goes home the same day, ribbon attached, ready for the door.

Blow a Blob of Paint Into a Monster

This is the messiest, giggliest class of the term. Your child will drop runny paint onto the page and blow it through a straw until it splatters into a wild spiky blob, then do it again in four more colours. Stick on some googly eyes, draw a pair of long skinny legs and some sneakers underneath, and the blobs turn into a gang of monsters.

No two monsters ever look the same. Wear old clothes.

A T-shirt They Painted and Can Actually Wear

Art you can wear is the best kind. Your child will cover a white T-shirt in a crowd of smiling jellyfish, drawing bright circles with fabric colour and letting them bleed into soft tie-dye blooms. Then it's faces, dots and long wiggly tentacles trailing down the front.

They'll want to wear it home, and they can. It's the class everyone talks about at school the next day.

A Bunny Bag, Ready for the Egg Hunt

Easter is the weekend after this class, and that's no accident. Your child will paint a calico bag with a big-eared bunny hugging a rainbow egg, add a few daisies and a butterfly, then write their own name across the top so nobody else can claim it. We'll have the bags and the fabric paint ready.

Come Sunday it's full of eggs. After that it's the library bag for the rest of the year.

A Clay Turtle with a Patterned Shell

Hands in the clay this week. Your child will pinch, roll and press a lump of it into a little turtle with a patterned shell, stubby legs and a face that looks up at you. Beverley shows them how to join the pieces properly so nothing drops off once it dries.

The turtle comes home to sit on a shelf and be admired.

Hundreds of Tiny Pieces, One Big Fish

We finish the term with a mosaic, and kids find them strangely addictive. Your child will design their own picture, a fish like this one or anything they fancy, then fill it in piece by piece with little squares of colour. Beverley shows them how to leave a thin gap between the pieces so it looks like the real thing.

It's slow, calm and very satisfying, a lovely way to end ten weeks. They'll want to finish it before they leave, and they will.