Create a Royal portrait

There is a long tradition of portraits of the reigning monarch being painted and displayed in the royal palaces. They are also seen on a daily basis, with the reigning monarch being portrayed on stamps and currency. This project also links into sustainability as the portrait will be made by reusing materials. King Charles III is known for his commitment to environmental issues and passion for a greener world.

This is one of a series of resources designed to allow learners to use the theme of the coronation of King Charles III to develop their knowledge and skills in Design & Technology, Maths and Art. This resource focuses on producing a portrait of King Charles III to celebrate the coronation, using reused and recycled materials. This project allows schools to decide on materials and scale depending on resources and facilities.

Activity: Create a Royal portrait

The teacher will first explain what a portrait is and why kings and queens have them painted, drawn or photographed using examples from the presentation. The learners will then take some time to study their own faces using a mirror, looking closely at facial features and discussing which reused or recycled materials could be suitable for different features, colours and textures, thinking about how they can make a portrait. Learners will then design and make their royal portraits, with the option to scale up as a class to create a large-scale portrait at the end if desired.

This activity can be simplified (particularly for less able students) by providing a template with outlines of the head and main features to guide learners where to place materials.

As an extension students could add a background to the portrait and/or add additional features such as King Charles III name, the things he likes or an environmental message. Teachers could also fly a drone over the large scale portrait to get an image of it that can be shared with the school in an assembly or parent event.   

This activity is designed to take between 80-120 minutes plus extension activity.

Tools/resources required

• Mirrors
• Paper and card, A4 squared paper
• Drawing instruments, such as pencils, colouring pencils, pens and rulers
• Scissors
• Glue sticks
• Portrait template (optional, for differentiation)
• A range of reused and recycled materials.
• For extension activities: chalk or masking tape, a drone
• Example portraits (if available)

 The engineering context

All designers and engineers need to be able to produce ideas related to certain themes and follow a design brief. This ensures that the products they design will meet the needs of the end users, customers or clients.

The coronation of King Charles III is a great opportunity for engineers to showcase the best of what the United Kingdom has to offer in terms of their design skills!

Suggested learning outcomes

By the end of this free resource students will be able to design from a brief; gather suitable materials and explore how they might be used to create a collage portrait; and create a visual outcome using recycled and reused materials.  

Download the free activity sheet below!

All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students’ and your schools’ needs.

The activity sheet includes teacher notes, guidance, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved UK nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

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