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Year 1

Tonal flowers

I can use light and dark tones to create a reduction drawing.

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New
New
Year 1

Tonal flowers

I can use light and dark tones to create a reduction drawing.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Artists use tone to show where an object is light and dark.
  2. Artists can build layers of tone, rather than use pressure, to create dark tones.
  3. Artists can create light tones by taking away, rather than adding, materials.

Keywords

  • Tone - how light or dark something is

  • Light - a tone that is closer to white

  • Dark - a tone that is closer to black

  • Reduction - when an artist takes away a material rather than builds up layers of materials

Common misconception

Tone is always achieved through pressure.

Remind children that tone can be achieved through adding pressure, but layers of material can also be built up or removed to vary tone.


To help you plan your year 1 art and design lesson on: Tonal flowers, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

As this lesson requires a large number of rubbers that will become stained, larger rubbers could be cut into smaller pieces. Students may find it useful if their work is taped down using masking tape to help prevent movement when drawing with the rubber.
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Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

Soft pencil, dark chalks, charcoal, rubbers, sketchbooks or thicker sheets of paper such as neutral coloured sugar paper, flowers or seeds to observe.

copyright

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which one is an example of a dark tone?
green tint
blue tint
Correct answer: purple shade
Q2.
What do we call the way something feels when we touch it?
shape
colour
Correct answer: texture
Q3.
What can you do if you make a mistake while drawing?
Correct Answer: Rub it out and try again, Erase it, Rub it out, Draw over it, Rub it out and fix it
Q4.
Match the secondary colours to the primary colours that make them.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer:orange,red + yellow
tick

red + yellow

Correct Answer:green,blue + yellow
tick

blue + yellow

Correct Answer:purple,red + blue
tick

red + blue

4 Questions

Q1.
Tone is always achieved through changing the pressure.
An image in a quiz
True
Correct answer: False
Q2.
What is the opposite of dark?
An image in a quiz
Correct answer: light
midtone
darker
Q3.
Match the material to the type of marks it can make.
Correct Answer:charcoal,soft and smudgy marks
tick

soft and smudgy marks

Correct Answer:rubber,light marks or erasing marks
tick

light marks or erasing marks

Correct Answer:pencil,thin, sharp marks
tick

thin, sharp marks

Q4.
Put these steps in the correct order when creating a reduction drawing.
1 - Draw the shapes from the flowers you have observed.
2 - Build up layers of charcoal within your shapes to create dark tones.
3 - Using a rubber create light tones by rubbing out to reveal light marks.