Explore our catalogue of award-winning activities and games

Busy Things hosts over 1600 curriculum-linked activities and games for early years and primary aged children. A school subscription also includes lots of features and tools for teachers that promise to save planning time.  Take a free trial to have a proper play or book a demo here. 

Pretty Things: Paint party

Drag a Pretty Thing around the screen to create beautiful painterly effects.

Experiment with layering and combining different marks. Use the buttons in the top left to save, load and print your images.

You can use this activity with the other Pretty Things activities for even more amazing results! In the left-hand margin are other works you have made during the session. Select one to open it in the canvas area and work on top of it. NOTE: These will not be saved automatically when you finish your session on Busy Things.



Discussion points

Age 3-4, Age 4, Age 5Age 5-6, Age 6-7Age 7-9

  • Tell someone about your picture.
  • What do you like about your picture?
  • What does each pattern remind you of? Why?
  • What picture could you make with these?
  • Which colours are in your picture?
  • What could each tool represent? Why?
  • Which tool do you prefer? Why?
  • How could you use these techniques in your own artwork?


Teaching tips:

Age 3-4, Age 4, Age 5Age 5-6, Age 6-7Age 7-9

This activity can be used as an open-ended creative task for children to explore different patterns, shapes, lines and colours.

Develop vocabulary by getting children to talk about and share their creation with others.
After giving children time to explore each tool, encourage them to create a picture and be able to talk about what it is.

Ask children what each tool effect reminds them off and what they might use it for in their picture.
Use this activity to practise experimentation techniques by giving children time to explore each tool first.

Following this, ask children what they could draw using the tools by asking them what they remind children of? Make sure they use control in their drawing and choose the tools carefully to represent something.
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Nursery

 £110+VAT yr

  Unlimited children in a single nursery

  Single shared login

  xx games for independent play

  Areas of Learning?

  Printable worksheets

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FREE TRIAL

Your free trial includes

  • access to 1600+ of fun educational activities and games
  • Create an area just for your class (school version)
  • Track activities and send feedback (school version)
  • Customisable games and activities targeting core maths, literacy and phonics skills
  • Creative activities working with colours, shapes and sounds
  • Busy Code - a whole suite of activities and guides for teaching children how to code
  • A custom phonics and maths worksheet maker
  • Curriculum-links and activity search
  • Pupil timelines - see what your pupils have been doing
  • Set assignments and collate results
  • Play on desktop computers, laptops and tablets

 

Schools

Schools have no limit on the number of pupils that can use Busy Things simultaneously. 

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Families 

The family version allows up to 5 children to play at once.

 

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