Creative Learning in Year 1 at Our Luton Primary School: DT, Art and Puppets!

Hands-On Learning in Year 1: Kebabs, Colour Mixing & Puppet Making

At our Luton primary school, we pride ourselves on offering a rich and engaging curriculum that encourages creativity, practical learning, and essential life skills. This term, Year 1 pupils at our good local school have been busy in Design & Technology (DT) and Art lessons, learning in fun and meaningful ways.

Healthy Fruit Kebabs

In DT, the children explored healthy eating by learning the difference between fruits and vegetables. After tasting a variety, they chose their favourites to design and create their very own fruit kebabs.

Before making them, we discussed knife safety and practised careful cutting. The best part? Eating the kebabs they had worked so hard to prepare and they were delicious!

This hands-on project helped pupils at our good primary school build fine motor skills, understand food choices, and practise working safely.

Colour Splash and Mixing

In Art, our young artists became colour detectives, experimenting with mixing the three primary colours, red, blue, and yellow, to make secondary colours. They used their creations to build a colour wheel and paint large numbers using bold, thick strokes inspired by artist Jasper Johns.

Using objects like LEGO bricks and cubes, they explored printing techniques and discovered how new colours appear when prints overlap. They also mixed various shades of green and recorded their discoveries creatively in their sketchbooks.

To finish, the children recreated decorative plates inspired byClarice Cliff, applying everything they had learned about colour mixing, texture, and design.

Fabric Joining and Puppet Making

Later in the term, Year 1 learned about joining fabrics using glue, staples, and pins, testing each method to see which worked best for different materials.

This led into a brilliant puppet-making project. After researching puppet types and designing characters using mood boards, the children cut felt templates and decorated them with sequins, fabric, and other materials. They applied their chosen joining methods to assemble their puppets, bringing their favourite storybook characters to life.

Finally, they reflected on their work, comparing their puppets to their original designs. The results were fantastic and showed real growth in creativity, planning and practical skills.

At our local primary school, we believe learning should be active, engaging, and purposeful. Through exciting projects like these, pupils are developing confidence, independence and a love for learning—just one of the many reasons we’re proud to be seen as a good school in Luton.