YOUNG artists put beetles, bugs and butterflies under the microscope to create a carousel of artwork on mini-beasts.

Primary pupils at Beaumont Hill Academy displayed their collection of creepy crawly creations to an audience of parents as part of a half-term topic looking at the natural world.

More than 80 pupils at the Darlington academy for children with specialist educational needs used art and design techniques to produce collages, paintings, drawings and paper chains.

Kirsty Coates, pastoral lead for primary, said: “We invited parents to come and work alongside their children and many of them could not believe just how creative the children had been.

“There were some fantastic comments from mums, dads and carers including how well the children had coped and how proud they were of what they had produced.”

All artwork will be displayed in primary classrooms for the remainder of the term.