Year 4 Visual Arts – Term 1 (WA Curriculum): Creating Narrative and Abstract Artworks

What this unit covers

In Term 1, Year 4 Visual Arts in the WA Curriculum centres on the unit “Creating Narrative and Abstract Artworks”.

Students explore narrative and abstract art forms while developing skills to create visually appealing artworks using various techniques and materials.

Lesson sequence (8 lessons)

The unit breaks down into the following lesson-by-lesson sequence — each title below is a teachable lesson, in order:

1. Exploring Stories in Art: What Makes Art Tell a Tale?
2. Creating Simple Narrative Drawings with Characters and Settings
3. Introduction to Abstract Art: Shapes, Colors and Feelings
4. Making Abstract Paintings Using Color and Line
5. Designing Visual Appeal: Balance and Composition in Art
6. Creating Mixed Media Narrative Collages
7. Abstract Sculpture Making with Found Materials
8. Gallery Preparation: Presenting Our Narrative and Abstract Artworks

Curriculum codes in this unit

Content codes:

Reading the codes: WA codes (the ones starting with WA) pack the year level, learning area, strand and content number into one string, while the national Australian Curriculum v9 uses a different anatomy that starts with AC9 — same content family, different labels. Our complete WA Curriculum guide decodes both, character by character.

Planning notes for Term 1

WA terms run roughly 9–11 weeks, and in 2026 Term 1 runs from Monday 2 February to Thursday 2 April — 9 weeks for WA public schools. With 8 lessons in this unit, that leaves breathing room for assessment, moderation and the weeks that disappear to carnivals, camps and public holidays — plan the assessable work to land two to three weeks before the end of term rather than in the final week.