Topic Paintings
Spend some time working with the class to explore paintings by a significant artist to link to a curriculum topic such as matching work in science for light to the artwork of J M W Turner or in geography about how different types of weather can affect the world by investigating paintings by Georges Seurat. Get the children to describe the themes reflected in each painting and suggest how the artist used colour shades and painting styles to illustrate the identified themes such as using brush stroke swirls to paint an image of the sky in the artwork of Van Gogh.

Painting Skills
Prior to working on the giant painting get the children to spend some time practising the painting skills that they will need to use when replicating a work of art. Teach the class how to use powder paints when mixing different colour shades. Stress the importance of using only a small amount of powder paint at a a time when building up a specific colour shade in order not to waste materials. The children can also try lightening and darkening a colour shade by mixing in small amounts of white and black powder paint. The class can also spend some time practising how to apply paint to some art paper when creating different shapes. Model how to use light brush strokes when applying paint to the paper rather than using heavy impressions to build up specific shapes.

Painting Squares
Provide each of the children with a section of the landscape artwork that the class are going to work with to make a giant painting. You can divide a copy of the selected painting into a grid of squares making sure that each member of the class has one section of the artwork to replicate. Provide each of the children with a square sheet of art paper that they can use to replicate the section of the landscape artwork that they have been given. Get them to concentrate on only painting the background scene to the artwork and avoid adding any significant elements such as buildings or tress. Encourage the children to work closely with some other pupils who are painting sections close to their own sections of the artwork so that they can match the positions of different features such as clouds in the sky or waves on the sea.

Painting Elements
Once the class has completed the background scenes of the artwork they can add other elements to the painting’s foreground. Work with the children to list some of the important elements in the original artwork such as buildings and trees. Split the class into small groups and assign them one of the listed artwork elements to replicate. Provide each group with a large sheet of art paper to create a their selected element. Make sure that the background sections that have already been painted are displayed in the classroom so that the children can check that their painted elements match the dimensions of the artwork.

Painting Display
Use a large board to display the completed landscape painting replica by sequencing the painted sections that have been created by each of the children in the class. Once the background scene has been displayed you can add the other elements painted by the class such as any buildings of trees to match the position of the same elements on the original artwork. You can also display copy of the original artwork next to the children’s giant painting so that they can be compared.