Bringing words to life: an illustration drawalong with Mrs Wordsmith for KS2 and KS3

As part of this year's Young City Poets programme, we worked with Mrs Wordsmith to create a dynamic drawalong with professional illustrators. Download the template and watch the video to have a go at bringing words to life through drawing with your class!

What does the drawalong involve?

In this session, pupils will learn how vocabulary can be used as a basis for creating illustrations. Professional illustrator, Mitch, demonstrates how he envisions Big Ben based on several key words. Pupils will be introduced to several other professional illustrators who share their own pictures and creative approaches.

This session is approximately 45 minutes.

Please note that this video was originally used with pupils participating in the Young City Poets project, so there are some references to a visit to a London landmark. You may want to think about other landmark buildings local to your area with your class ahead of running this session.

What is the Young City Poets project?

Young City Poets is a writing for enjoyment project that enables pupils to engage with literacy on their own terms in a way that also meets national curriculum requirements for writing.

Pupils attend a visit to a cultural venue in London which provides inspiration for a session with a professional poet back in school. Pupils have opportunities to perform their poetry in front of a live audience or to be published in an anthology, providing a real purpose for their creative work.

What is Mrs Wordsmith?

Mrs Wordsmith is a team of artists, game designers, writers, data scientists, teachers, and researchers. Using Hollywood-quality animation and state-of-the-art game design, Mrs Wordsmith creates books, games, and apps to improve the reading and writing outcomes of kids aged 3-13, and to make word learning hilariously fun both at school and at home.