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Draft curriculum content

This page is based on the draft Year 1 content for The Arts, which is currently open for feedback. Schools are not required to implement changes until the consultation process is confirmed.

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Consultation for Year 0 to 10 draft curriculum content

In Years 1 to 3, children explore the Arts as they learn simple concepts and techniques and discover how elements like colour, rhythm, and movement express ideas. They engage with art forms from New Zealand and around the world through playful, hands-on experiences.

In this phase, arts teaching is structured around 3 strands that focus on key areas of learning. These include:

  • Performing Arts: making and creating, observing and responding
  • Music: elements of music, listening and responding, performing, including singing, playing instruments, and creating and composing
  • Visual Arts: making and creating, observing and responding.

Performing Arts#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • read stories together and respond by acting out the story, perhaps using puppets or soft toys
  • dance together to music you enjoy, noticing the way different music makes you want to move
  • dress up as known characters and engage in some dramatic or pretend play
  • notice different ways the body can move, for example, playing the game Simon Says
  • exploring a local playground or taking a nature walk noticing the different ways your bodies can move through the space, for example jumping, stretching, twisting.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on how meaning can be expressed and interpreted through movement and performance.

For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • use their body, face, and voice to show different characters or feelings, tell a story, and respond to music
  • demonstrate the difference between locomotive (or ‘travelling’) movement, like crawling or jumping, where they move around a space, and non-locomotive movement, like stretching or bending, where they stay in one place
  • create simple sequences of movement with different levels, which are the height at which a performer moves, which may be high, medium, or low
  • create simple sequences of movement with different pathways, which are patterns a performer creates in the air or on the floor by moving parts of their body through space
  • use simple movements, sounds, and rhythms from local and global influences such as te ao Māori, to tell stories, express feelings, and show connections with people and places, for example, moving like the local awa
  • notice and talk about how other people use movement, voice, space, and gestures in a performance
  • share their thoughts and feelings about a performance they have seen or in which they have taken part.

Music#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • sing nursery rhymes, lullabies, traditional songs, and waiata
  • chant the words of spoken rhymes and traditional chants
  • read books with rhymes, paying attention to the rhythm and pronunciation
  • move together to a steady beat, staying connected by holding hands or bouncing your child on your knee
  • bounce or sway a toy on a piece of fabric, like a scarf, as you sing, chant, or listen to music
  • watch and participate in live performances of singing and instrumental groups, cultural groups, and other musicians in the community
  • participate in music for babies and toddlers classes at a local community centre or school of music
  • notice and talk about the sounds around you, such as those made by birds, animals, the wind in the trees, water, people, and traffic
  • explore ways of making sounds with household items, for example, things you can tap, shake, or blow to make a sound, and use them to play along as you sing a song, play the beat (steady pulse), play the rhythm (how the words go)
  • create your own composition with layers of sound.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on how meaning can be understood and expressed through sound. For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • recognise and recreate the basic elements of music, for example:
    • beat (steady pulse)
    • rhythm (made up of long and short sounds)
    • tempo (how fast or slow the music is)
    • pitch (how high or low the music is)
    • texture (the density of music, created by layers of sound)
  • sing simple songs or chants and imitate others in a call and response
  • keep to the correct beat and tempo when playing a percussion instrument
  • share familiar music from their everyday lives
  • explore different ways to make sound and how music can be used to tell stories
  • listen and respond respectfully to music from te ao Māori, for example, waiata
  • make up short pieces of music in response to short sung melodies or beaten rhythm patterns
  • talk about their thoughts and feelings about music and other sounds, referring to the elements of music.

Visual Arts#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • set up opportunities to explore creative ways of making marks, for example, drawing on paper, painting with water on the fence, or using chalk on concrete
  • ask simple questions about your child’s artwork, giving them time to talk about how they made it or tell the story of their art
  • use paper and crayons or similar items to create rubbings of different textures around your home or local space, such as leaves, coins, tree trunks, and small carvings
  • conduct a colour scavenger hunt around your home, where you find and match things of the same colour.

What the teacher will focus on#

The teacher will focus on how meaning can be explored and communicated through visual art.

For example, by the end of the year, your child may be able to:

  • recognise and explore the basic elements of visual art, for example:
    • line: using lines to suggest a shape, movement, or emotion
    • shape: joining a line or using colour or texture to make a regular, geometric shape, like a triangle, or a less regular, more organic shape, like a leaf
    • colour: using colour to create a mood or feeling, for example, red for anger
    • texture: changing how something looks and feels by experimenting with different materials and techniques, for example, making it look rough or smooth
    • mark making: creating lines, dots, patterns, or textures with different tools and materials
  • experiment with using different materials, tools, and techniques to draw, paint, and make simple sculptures
  • create patterns, using colours, symbols, and shapes to represent important people, places, or things
  • talk about what they think, feel, or notice about their own or other people’s artwork.