Year 5 – Art – Mayan Masks

This term, we were looking at the Maya in our history and linked this with our art topic. Our focus was sculpture, so we decided to create our own Mayan masks using clay and paint. We enjoyed finding out that the Mayan had many different uses for their masks that affected the way they looked and we used this to inspire our own designs. Once we had planned our own designs, we then created them using a variety of sculpture techniques and tools.

What The Student Says

“It was a fun experience as we used our creativity to draw it and then create it out of clay.” Child from 5MB

“We used vibrant colours for a celebration mask and different patterns to make it bright.” Child from 5NP

“I like that we looked at history and made them red for death masks and green for battle masks. It’s an emerald green, the same as they did in the Maya times.” Child from 5MB

What knowledge and skills have been developed?

During this unit of art, we also developed the following skills:

  • Develop an understanding of different ways of finishing work (e.g. glaze, paint, polish, varnish)
  • Understand that a range of media can be selected (due to their properties) for different purposes
  • Independently recognise problems and adapt work when necessary – taking inspiration from other sculptors
  • To know and understand that the Mayan civilisation was an ancient civilisation
  • To know where the Mayan civilisation came from
  • To know and understand how the Mayan civilisation celebrated significant events
  • To understand the importance of the celebration masks in Mayan culture
  • To use clay to create a 3d Mayan mask for a specific purpose
  • To use scoring and finishing techniques to create a replica Mayan mask using clay
  • To use simple rolled out 3d shapes (spheres, cylinders) to create other shapes for their final clay, Mayan mask

What the Teacher says

The children thoroughly enjoyed creating their own masks inspired by the thorough research they completed. They loved finding out the differences between battle masks, death masks and celebration masks and then using these differences to inspire their own creations. By the end of this unit, all the children had produced some incredible masks and I am incredibly proud of their work (Mrs Benson and Mrs Phipps)

School Address:

Clapgate Primary School
10 Cranmore Drive
Belle Isle
Leeds
LS10 4AW

School Contacts:

Headteacher: Mrs Singleton
Deputy Headteacher: Miss Taylor
SENDCO: Mrs Lawton
Office: Mrs Austin, Miss Johnson, Mrs Belt and Miss Stamp
Chair of Governors: Mr Bache

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Tel: 0113 271 6700
Email: clapgate@clapgateprimaryschool.org

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