Year 1 Line and Shape Art Lessons: Dotty Doughnuts

A familiar shape can open up all sorts of possibilities in the art room. In this unit, the doughnut becomes a starting point for exploring how circles can be divided, repeated and arranged. Students make choices about colour and placement, discovering how those choices change the feeling of their artwork.

These Year 1 Line and Shape Art Lessons give students a clear structure with room to play. Short drawing activities build skills they can carry into hands-on and digital projects, helping them become more confident about planning and developing their own ideas.

A Sprinkling of Dots and Colour

Dotty Doughnuts takes the circle a step further by exploring semi-circles. Students play with these half-circle shapes, repeating and arranging them so that colour, placement and background work together to create movement. It’s a cheerful introduction to making patterns with a little more intention.

There is plenty to talk about along the way. Which colours stand out? What happens when the same shape appears again? Where could the next circle go? These simple questions encourage students to look at their work and make decisions, while the doughnut theme keeps the learning inviting.

Hands-on and digital activities revisit these ideas through different materials. Students recognise the shapes, then try something new with them. Weekly Core Skills mini-lessons keep everyone learning together, while Studio Work allows time to practise and develop projects at an individual pace.

Meet the Artists Behind the Circles

Robert Delaunay and František Kupka give students two different ways to look at circular shapes. Delaunay’s Endless Rhythm introduces repeated discs and arcs of colour that create a sense of movement. Students can follow the shapes with their eyes and notice how colour helps different parts stand out.

Kupka’s Study for Disks of Newton offers another arrangement of circles and colour to explore. Looking at the two artworks together encourages students to spot similarities, describe differences and discover that artists can begin with the same shape and make very different pictures. These artist connections give the doughnut activities a purpose beyond decoration.

Where This Sits in the CampFire Pathway

This Year 1 unit is one of eleven year-level units in CampFire, the Drawing Toolkit’s Line and Shape collection spanning Foundation to Year 10. Year 1 builds on early experiences with circles by exploring more deliberate repetition, colour placement and arrangement.

Each unit has its own artists, activities and level of challenge, with a consistent structure of short weekly Core Skills mini-lessons, hands-on and digital Studio Work, quizzes and reflection. Dotty Doughnuts can be taught as a standalone ten-week journey or alongside other CampFire year levels across a school. Read more about the full CampFire Line and Shape pathway.

Who Are These Year 1 Line and Shape Art Lessons For?

This unit is for Year 1 classroom teachers wanting a clear, ready-to-teach art sequence and Visual Arts specialists building progression across the early primary years. Manageable steps and a familiar theme support students as they practise drawing skills and become more purposeful in their creative choices.

The unit includes ready-to-teach lesson slides, a Teacher Guide with the Unit Planner and Australian Curriculum v9 planning support, a Quiz Book with answers, and a Posters Pack with Drawing Tools and Reflection Guides. The sequence is prepared, with flexibility for your classroom and the pace of your students.

Bring a little doughnut-inspired pattern play into your art room. Colourful creations, no baking required!

Explore other year levels in the full CampFire: Line and Shape collection.