Lines, Shapes and Colours
Primary 2 · Creative Arts
Lines, Shapes and Colours
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
Uwase is waiting for the beans to cook. She picks up a small stick. She drags it slowly through the dust.
A mark stays behind on the ground. That mark is a line. Uwase has already started a drawing, and she did not even mean to!
Today you will make four kinds of lines. Then you will use them to build a whole picture.
Put your pencil on the paper. Now pull it across the page without bending. Stop.
That mark is a straight line. It never bends and it never turns.
Straight lines are all around you. The edge of your ruler is straight. The pole of the flag is straight.
Pull your pencil again, but this time let it lean over slowly as it goes.
That is a curved line. It bends softly. It has no sharp corner anywhere.
A rainbow after the rain is a curve. A banana lying on a plate is a curve.
Now curve up. Then curve down. Then up again. Then down again. Do not lift your pencil.
That is a wavy line. It rolls up and down, up and down, and every bend is round and soft.
Wind makes wavy lines on the water of Lake Kivu. Smoke from a cooking fire climbs in wavy lines.
Go up. Now stop and turn sharply. Go down. Stop and turn sharply again. Go up.
That is a zigzag line. It also goes up and down, but every corner is sharp and pointy.
The teeth of a saw make a zigzag. The mountain tops near Musanze look like a zigzag against the sky.
Both of them go up and down. So how do you tell them apart?
Ask yourself one question: could it poke my finger?
A zigzag has sharp points. It could poke you. A wavy line is round and soft. It could never poke you.
Start a line at a dot. Take it for a walk around the page. Now bring it back to the very same dot where it started.
The line is closed now. The middle is shut inside. You have made a shape.
Here are the four shapes you need today.
Careful here! A square and a rectangle both have 4 corners. So count the sides first, then look at how long they are. All the same length? Square. Two long and two short? Rectangle.
Habimana wants to draw his home. But he does not try to draw a house. He draws shapes, one at a time. Follow him with your pencil.
Step 1 Draw a big square in the middle of your page. That is the wall.
Step 2 Sit a triangle on top of the square, so the bottom of the triangle rests on the top of the square. That is the roof.
Step 3 Draw a tall thin rectangle inside the square, standing on the ground. That is the door.
Step 4 Draw two small squares, one on each side of the door. Those are the windows.
Step 5 Draw a circle up in the corner of the page. That is the sun.
Step 6 Now bring back your lines. A zigzag line across the front for the fence. A wavy line rising from the roof for the smoke. Short straight lines poking out of the sun.
Step back and look at your page. A house! And you never drew a house — you only drew shapes and lines.
That is the big secret of drawing: every picture is built from small, easy parts. Draw the shapes first. Add the lines after.
Tip
Poke or stroke? If a line could poke your finger, it is a zigzag. If it is soft enough to stroke like a cat, it is wavy.
Count the corners: circle 0, triangle 3, square 4, rectangle 4.
Get some paper. Do each one, then tap Show answer to check.
Draw a line that could poke your finger. What is that line called?
Answer: A zigzag line. It is the one with sharp, pointy corners.
Mutesi draws a shape with 3 straight sides. How many corners does it have? What is the shape called?
Answer: It has 3 corners, and it is a triangle. Each side meets another side at a corner, so 3 sides give you 3 corners.
Which shape has no corners at all?
Answer: The circle. It is round the whole way, so it never stops to turn a corner.
Draw a mango tree using shapes. Which shape will you use for the trunk? Which for the leaves?
Answer: A long thin rectangle for the trunk, and a big circle on top for the leaves. Add short wavy lines at the bottom for grass.
Look at the door of your room. Is it a square or a rectangle? How do you know?
Answer: It is a rectangle. It has 4 straight sides, but it is much taller than it is wide. A square would have all 4 sides the same length.
What you learned today
Quick check
Match each shape to what it has.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
