Dot Painting On NAIDOC Week

 

NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week celebrations are held in July every year in Australia.  

This week Australians celebrates the social, cultural and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

Communities, schools, workplaces and across the nation, this week is celebrated with an extensive range of activities and events to promote and make aware our young generation about NAIDOC week.

NAIDOC week celebrates with a new theme to bring awareness and focus on different aspects of Indigenous Australian experiences.

We decided on a theme of Dot painting to play and learn about it.

What is dot painting?

Dot painting is one type of Aboriginal art. 

It is a creative craft to do with your kidoos. It is a repetitive pattern, and the beauty is in its simplicity and colours. 

It very relaxing and calming project to do. It is a kind of therapy to heal yourself when you really get into the rhythm of it.

Traditionally,  dot painting was done in natural pigments like plants and earth pigments, giving the picture earthy tones. Nowadays, commonly used paints are acrylic with bright colours.

Aboriginal paintings portray beautiful, powerful and unique stories of Indigenous legends passed down from generation to generation.

Today, we have decided to illustrate and practice some artwork to remember some great legends.

Setup

We used old cardboard pieces, paints, earbuds, scissors, a paintbrush, and a pencil.

Steps:

1) To start with, we draw a circle and a snake sketch on cardboard, then cut down the shape.

2) Next, we painted the circle shape with some imagination.

3) Place the cotton tip of the earbud into colour and start the dot pattern. A lightly tracing was done a shape that helped the kidoos make a mark of dot around the edge to make a pattern, and it is easier for them.

4) We experimented with different colours and shapes, and the kids enjoyed it. I loved it too, and it was also adorable to sit down and do an activity together.  


5) We named the circle shape SUN.

 


6) After the circle painting, our sun, we started to cut the snake.

7) We just did miniature dot painting again because kidoos were curious to make dots now; rather than the painting, we ended up putting some eyes on the snake to see the sun and earth.

 


8) The excitement of the play didn’t end here; we did more dot painting on the rock.

 

 
9)We painted the rock and then made some dot patterns to represent the rocks on the earth, and we all discussed the story of the Rainbow Serpent.



The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake, also known as Wagyl, Wuagyl, etc. often seen as a creator god and a familiar figure in the art and religion of Aboriginal Australia. 


But our story was different; we have a sunny day with one rock on the earth,  and the rainbow snake wants to enjoy the sunny day in the winters usually,  they just rest in winters.

 

 Learning Outcome:

• Hand and eye coordination.
• Fine  Motor Development – Pre-writing skills.
• Concentration.
• Creativity and imagination.
•  Self-Esteem - developing a sense of pride and achievement.
•  Learning about the diversity and  Aboriginal Australian history.

If you want to download the template of snake and circle, please click on the link below:

The Rainbow Snake on the Sunny day.

Also, don't forget to share your creativity with your friends and family and share with us. 

#kreativekiddos 

Be Kreative :)