Grade 3
Course ContentDrawing/Painting
Habari Mwanafunzi! Welcome to the World of Drawing and Painting!
Have you ever seen a beautiful sunset over the Maasai Mara and wished you could keep that picture forever? Or have you admired the bright, colourful patterns on a kanga or a matatu? Well, today you will learn how to become a storyteller, not with words, but with lines, shapes, and colours! Drawing and painting are magical ways to put your imagination on paper. Tuko pamoja? Let's begin our artistic adventure!
1. Your Artist's Toolkit (Vifaa vya Msanii)
Every great artist needs their tools. You don't need anything fancy to start. You probably have these things at home or at school right now!
- Pencils (Penseli): For sketching your ideas. A simple HB pencil is perfect!
- Paper (Karatasi): Your canvas! Any clean paper will do.
- Eraser (Raba): For correcting those little "happy accidents".
- Colours: This is where the magic happens! You can use:
- Crayons (Rangi za nta)
- Coloured Pencils (Penseli za rangi)
- Water-based paints (Rangi za maji)
Did you know? Many years ago, our ancestors used natural materials to draw. They used charcoal from the fire to draw on cave walls and coloured clay (ochre) to paint their bodies. Art is in our Kenyan blood!
2. The Building Blocks of Art (Misingi ya Sanaa)
All drawings and paintings, no matter how complicated, are made from three simple things: Lines, Shapes, and Colours.
A. Lines (Mistari)
A line is just a dot that went for a walk! Lines can show direction, create patterns, and build shapes. Think about the long, straight line of the horizon at the coast, or the curvy line of the Tana River on a map, or the zigzag patterns on a kiondo basket.
Straight Line: ------------------- (Like a road in Tsavo)
Curvy Line: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Like a snake or a river)
Zigzag Line: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ (Like the patterns on a basket)
Dotted Line: - - - - - - - - - (Like animal footprints)
B. Shapes (Maumbo)
When lines connect, they form shapes! We see shapes everywhere.
- Geometric Shapes: These are shapes with clear edges and names, like circles, squares, and triangles. The roof of a traditional hut is a triangle, and the base can be a circle.
- Organic Shapes: These are free-form shapes, like the ones you see in nature. Think of the shape of a mango leaf, a cloud, or even a puddle of water.
+-----------+
| | <-- A Square (like a window)
+-----------+
/ \
/ \ <-- A Triangle (like the roof of a hut or Mt. Kenya)
/_____\
()
( ) <-- A Circle (like the sun or a wheel)
()
C. Colour (Rangi)
Kenya is a country full of colour! The green tea fields in Kericho, the red shukas of the Maasai, and the blue of the Indian Ocean. In art, we start with three special colours called Primary Colours. They are the 'mother' colours because they can be mixed to make all other colours!
- Red (Nyekundu)
- Yellow (Njano)
- Blue (Bluu)
When you mix two primary colours, you get a Secondary Colour. Let's do some 'colour math'!
# --- Colour Mixing Formula ---
[Yellow] + [Red] = Orange (Like a ripe orange or pawpaw)
[Blue] + [Yellow] = Green (Like sukuma wiki or the grass after rain)
[Red] + [Blue] = Purple (Like the beautiful Jacaranda flowers)
Image Suggestion: [A vibrant, colourful image of a bustling Kenyan market scene. A woman is in the foreground arranging a pile of bright red tomatoes, yellow bananas, and green sukuma wiki. The style is colourful and painterly, celebrating the primary and secondary colours in a real-life setting.]
3. Let's Draw a Giraffe! (Tuchore Twiga!)
A giraffe is a perfect animal to draw using simple shapes. It looks hard, but it's easy if you break it down. Let's try!
- The Body: Start with a large oval, like a big egg lying on its side.
- The Neck: Draw a long, thin rectangle coming up from one side of the oval.
- The Head: Add a small circle at the very top of the neck.
- The Legs: Draw four long, skinny rectangles coming down from the body.
- Details: Now, add two small horns (ossicones), a small tail, and of course, the famous patches! You can use organic, rounded square shapes for the patches.
--- Step-by-Step Giraffe ---
(O) <-- Step 3: Head
|
| <-- Step 2: Neck
+--+--+
| | <-- Step 1: Body
+-----+
| | | | <-- Step 4: Legs
| | | |
Image Suggestion: [A simple, child-friendly infographic showing the 5 steps to draw a giraffe using basic shapes (oval, rectangles, circle). Each step should be clearly numbered. The final drawing should be a cute, stylized giraffe coloured with yellow and brown patches, standing next to an Acacia tree.]
4. Your Creative Challenge! (Zoezi Lako!)
Now it's your turn to be the artist! Your mission is to create a piece of art that tells a story about "My Kenya".
- Think about what you love about our country. Is it the wildlife? The people? The food? The landscape from your home?
- Start with a light pencil sketch using simple lines and shapes.
- Add colour! Think about the colours you see around you. Is your scene bright and sunny (using yellows, oranges, and reds)? Or is it a calm, cool evening (using blues and purples)?
- Don't be afraid to make mistakes. In art, every line you draw is part of your unique story.
Remember, the most important tool you have is your imagination. Have fun, be creative, and be proud of your work. Safari njema in your art journey!
Habari Mwanafunzi! Let's Draw and Paint Our Beautiful Kenya!
Have you ever seen a beautiful sunset over the hills of the Great Rift Valley, or a colourful kanga worn at a celebration, and wished you could capture that beauty forever? Well, you can! Today, we are going to unlock the magic of drawing and painting. We will learn how to turn a blank piece of paper into a wonderful piece of art, using nothing but lines, shapes, and colours. Are you ready to become an artist? Let's begin!
The Superpowers of Drawing: Lines and Shapes
Every single drawing in the world, from a simple cartoon to a big, famous painting, starts with two things: lines and shapes. They are the building blocks of art!
- Lines: A line is like a path your pencil makes. It can be straight like a Maasai spear, curvy like the Tana River, or zigzag like a flash of lightning!
- Shapes: When lines connect, they make shapes! A circle is like the bright sun, a square is like a window in your classroom, and a triangle is like the roof of a hut.
By putting lines and shapes together, you can draw anything! Let's try drawing a simple Kenyan hut (a manyatta).
/ \ <-- Triangle for the roof
/ \
/_____\
| | <-- Rectangle/Square for the walls
| [ ] | <-- A small square for the door
+-----+
Image Suggestion: [A vibrant, cheerful digital illustration of Kenyan children of different ages sitting under a large acacia tree. They are happily drawing in notepads with pencils and crayons. In the background, you can see a colourful marketplace with stalls selling fruits and fabrics. The style should be child-friendly and full of bright colours.]
Adding Shadows: The Secret of Shading
Have you noticed how a mango has a bright, shiny side where the sun hits it and a darker side in the shadow? That's what makes it look round and real, not flat! In art, we call this shading. Shading is what gives your drawings depth and makes them look 3D (three-dimensional).
A simple way to shade is with lines. Let's make our flat circle look like a real ball!
Flat Circle Ball with Shading (Hatching)
----------- ----------------------------
/ \ / \
/ \ / \ //
| | | | // <-- Lines are
\ / \ / /// closer on the
\ / \ / //// shadow side.
A Quick Story: Amina wanted to draw the family's metal cooking pot, the sufuria. Her first drawing looked like a flat, grey circle. Her Gogo (grandmother) told her, "Look closer, mrembo. See where the light doesn't touch? Make that part darker." Amina added small, dark lines on one side, and suddenly, her drawing looked round and heavy, just like the real sufuria! That is the power of shading.
A Splash of Colour! Welcome to Painting
Now for the most exciting part – colour! Colours can show feelings. Bright yellow can feel happy like a sunny day in Mombasa, while dark blue can feel calm like the night sky over Mount Kenya.
In painting, we start with three very important colours called Primary Colours. They are the 'parent' colours because they can be mixed to make all other colours!
- Red: Like a ripe tomato or a Maasai shuka.
- Yellow: Like a sweet banana or the sun.
- Blue: Like the waters of Lake Victoria or a clear sky.
When you mix two primary colours, you create a Secondary Colour. This is where the magic (and a little bit of math) happens!
--- Colour Mixing Formula ---
1 part RED + 1 part YELLOW = ORANGE (like a sunset)
1 part YELLOW + 1 part BLUE = GREEN (like the tea fields in Kericho)
1 part BLUE + 1 part RED = PURPLE (like a beautiful bougainvillea flower)
Image Suggestion: [A close-up photograph of a child's wooden paint palette. On the palette are three distinct blobs of primary paint: a vibrant red, a sunny yellow, and a deep blue. A paintbrush is shown actively mixing the yellow and blue paint, with a beautiful, rich green colour emerging at the point of contact. The background is slightly blurred to focus on the mixing action.]
Your Turn to Be the Artist: Painting a Kenyan Sunset
Let's put everything we've learned together! We will paint a beautiful Kenyan sunset with an acacia tree. Grab your paper, pencil, and paints!
- Step 1: The Horizon. Draw a straight line across the middle of your paper. This is the line where the land meets the sky.
- Step 2: The Sun. Draw a half-circle sitting on your horizon line. That's our setting sun!
- Step 3: The Acacia Tree. On one side, draw the shape of an acacia tree. It has a flat top and a thin trunk. Don't worry about details!
- Step 4: Paint the Sky. Now for the fun! Wash your brush. Using yellow, orange, and red paints, fill the sky. Let the colours blend together like a real sunset.
- Step 5: Paint the Silhouette. A silhouette is a dark shape seen against a light background. Mix a dark colour (like black or dark purple) and carefully paint the land below your horizon line and the entire acacia tree.
Stand back and look at your amazing work! You have captured the beauty of our country on paper.
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Pablo Picasso
You Are an Artist!
Well done! Today, you have learned the secrets of art. You used lines and shapes to draw, shading to make things look real, and you mixed colours to paint a masterpiece. Remember, art is all around you – in the patterns on a butterfly's wings, the shape of the clouds, and the colours of the market. Keep looking, keep drawing, and keep creating! Tutaonana!
Jambo, Future Artist! Welcome to the World of Drawing and Painting!
Have you ever looked at a beautiful sunset over the Great Rift Valley, the bright colours of a kanga, or the happy face of a friend and wished you could capture that moment forever? Well, you can! Drawing and painting are like magic wands that let you put your imagination and the world around you onto paper. Today, we are going on an exciting safari into the world of art. Let's get our hands colourful and our minds creative!
Image Suggestion: [A vibrant, cheerful digital illustration of a diverse group of Kenyan students sitting under a large acacia tree. They are laughing and happily drawing in their sketchbooks. In the background, there are rolling green hills and a bright blue sky. The style should be colourful and inspiring.]
The Building Blocks of Art: Your Magic Ingredients
Every great piece of art, from the paintings on a matatu to the masterpieces in a gallery, is made from a few simple ingredients. We call these the Elements of Art. Let's learn about them!
-
Line: This is where every drawing begins! A line is simply a dot that went for a walk. Lines can be straight like a ruler, curvy like the Tana River, zigzag like a pattern on a basket, or bumpy like a ride on a village road.
Straight Line: ----------------- Wavy Line: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zigzag Line: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Bumpy Line: _.-._.-._.-._.-._ -
Shape: When a line comes back to meet its starting point, it creates a shape! Shapes are flat, like a drawing of a chapati (circle) or a window (square). What shape is a samosa? That's right, a triangle!
***** * * +-------+ / \ * * | | / \ * * | | / \ ***** +-------+ /_______\ (Circle) (Square) (Triangle) -
Colour (Rangi): Ah, the most exciting part! Colour brings our drawings to life. We start with three special colours called Primary Colours. They are special because you cannot make them by mixing other colours. They are Red, Yellow, and Blue.
Think of the red soil in some parts of our country, the bright yellow of a ripe mango, and the deep blue of the Indian Ocean at Watamu!
When we mix these primary colours, we create Secondary Colours.
-- COLOUR MIXING FORMULAS -- Red + Yellow = Orange (like a sunset) Yellow + Blue = Green (like the leaves on a tea farm in Kericho) Blue + Red = Purple (like a beautiful bougainvillea flower) - Texture: This is how something feels, or how it *looks* like it would feel in a drawing. Is the bark of a baobab tree rough or smooth? Is a guava fruit smooth or bumpy? You can show texture in your drawing using different kinds of lines and shading.
Let's Draw! Your First Masterpiece
Ready to try? Let's draw a simple Kenyan landscape. Grab a pencil and paper!
- Start with the Land: Draw a long, wavy line across your paper for our beautiful, rolling hills.
- Add the Sun: In the corner, draw a semi-circle for the rising or setting sun. Add some straight lines coming out from it for the sun's rays.
- Plant a Tree: Draw a tall, straight trunk. For an acacia tree, draw a wide, flat top. You can use scribbly lines to show the texture of the leaves.
\ | /
.-'-.
/ \
/ \
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
/ \ |
/ \ |
________/ \_____________|____________
/ \
A Story from the Village:"Young Juma loved watching the weavers make colourful kiondo baskets in his village. He noticed how they used straight lines of sisal, one after another, to create beautiful zigzag and diamond patterns. He went home and filled his exercise book with drawings inspired by the baskets, using only lines to create amazing textures and shapes. He learned that even the simplest element, a line, can create something wonderful!"
The Rule of a Good Picture: Balance is Key!
Have you ever wondered why some pictures look more interesting than others? Sometimes, it's because of balance and composition. A simple trick artists use is the Rule of Thirds. Imagine your paper is divided into nine equal boxes, like a game of tic-tac-toe (or 'tris').
Try to place the most important things in your drawing (like our acacia tree) along these lines, or where the lines cross. This makes the picture feel more balanced and professional!
Imagine your paper is 18cm wide and 12cm tall.
To find the lines for the Rule of Thirds:
Step 1: Divide the width by 3.
18 cm / 3 = 6 cm
Your vertical lines will be at the 6 cm and 12 cm marks.
Step 2: Divide the height by 3.
12 cm / 3 = 4 cm
Your horizontal lines will be at the 4 cm and 8 cm marks.
-- VISUAL GRID --
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| | | |
| X | X | X | <-- Place items here
| | | |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| | | |
| X | X | X | <-- or here
| | | |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| | | |
| X | X | X | <-- or here
| | | |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
Image Suggestion: [A clear, educational diagram showing a simple photograph of a lone elephant on the savanna. A transparent 3x3 grid (the Rule of Thirds) is overlaid on the image, with the elephant positioned at one of the intersecting points, not in the exact center. The style should be like a textbook illustration.]
Your Turn! Let's Create!
Now it's your chance to be the artist! Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Activity: My Favourite Things in Kenya
Think about something you love about our country. It could be:
- Your favourite Kenyan food (a plate of ugali and sukuma wiki, a juicy mango, or sweet mahamri).
- Your favourite Kenyan animal (a graceful giraffe, a mighty lion, or a colourful sunbird).
- A view from your home or a place you love to visit.
Grab your pencils, crayons, or paints. First, draw the outlines using different kinds of lines and basic shapes. Then, bring it to life with amazing colour! Remember to mix your primary colours to create new ones. Don't worry about making it perfect. The most important thing is to have fun and express yourself.
Art is your voice on paper. So, what story will you tell today?
Keep creating, keep practising, and never stop looking at the world with the eyes of an artist! Hongera!
Pro Tip
Take your own short notes while going through the topics.
