Art students from the University of West of Scotland came to work with us today. They taught us about the importance of wellbeing and using expressive arts to promote positive wellbeing and linking it to nature and the world around us. 

First thing in the morning we went outdoors and listened to the sounds around us and used some breathing techniques to help us relax and connect with our surroundings. 

We then went on a nature hunt to find some natural objects from our school garden that we found intersting.

We took our objects indoors and used some observational drawing techniques to sketch our objects. 

After break we created our own paintbrushes using natural materials. We listened to some calming muisc as we designed and used our technical skills to create our tools. 

We then took a break for lunch and in the afternoon used chalk to sketch some large drawings inspired by nature in our playground. 

We learned how to make natural paint using water, flour and food colouring. We finally used our paintbrushes to paint our chalk drawings. You can see by the smiles on our faces how much we enjoyed this day. 

Feedback from everyone was that this was a fun, positive and calming day. Everyone was engaged with the activities and found their inner artist. 

The student art teachers commented again on our excellent behaviour, enthusiasm and creativity.