The Chinese New Year always provides art teachers with wonderful creative motivation and a plethora of activities for the start of a new school year and this year was no exception.

Since being introduced to Zentangles last year, my interest in creative pattern and line has taken a new direction so I decided to combine the two – Year of the Snake and Zentangles.

Level three and four used the first two very hot weeks of the year to sit quietly and immerse themselves in these activities.

An elastic band wound randomly around a foam paint roller gives great ‘snake’ patterns when lightly covered in paint and swept across the page. After these were dried with a hair dryer, the children used fine liners to create patterns on the snake shape. 

We discussed Zentangles and pattern and line in general and children were encouraged to share their patterns with each other, many altering and adding as they went.

The completed snake shape was cut out leaving a white border and mounted creatively on a prepared photocopy of Chinese New Year symbols. This was mounted on a second background on which the children were free to create a border of their choice.

In the second activity, children drew a curved line diagonally across their square page and ‘doubled’ it to create a snake shape. The background was then divided into several segments and children set about filling the snake with tangle patterns. Their background was left to share with friends. Each child in the friendship group added their own pattern to the background of their friend’s work.

The children took great care when working on each others’ piece and showed a respect for each others’ work which was very pleasing.

The third piece was a combination of the previous two. 

Lyn Ferrall
Visual Art Teacher
Beverley Hills Primary School
Suitable for level 3