So many kinds of Prints!

This week we worked on various print-making techniques. In the older classes we began with a scratch foam activity where the kids used toothpicks to scratch a design into a piece of foam. After making marks with the toothpicks, they rolled paint onto their foam and flipped it onto a piece of paper to make a print. We used basic craft foam that I had in the studio, but next time I’m going to try scratch foam boards that are softer and easier to scratch a design into.

After printing with foam, we moved on to try many other printing materials like leaves… 

textured rolling pins…

woodblock stamps… and more!

The kids loved the wood block stamps, dipping them into the paint and banging them down onto the paper.

The 1s classes started off using cookie-cutters to make prints, then moved on to leaves, sponges, and rolling pins.

The kids began to combine all of the techniques and, of course, decided to add glitter as well!

The easels were popular with the 1s classes as they moved around the studio.

The weather was hot and beautiful this week so I decided to bring some of the print-making outside for the last half of class. We first tried out the techniques on a longer scale!

Then I brought out some warm weather fun like ice painting for the 1-yr-olds and water balloons for the older kids. We also tried out some nylon bean bags that make interesting prints when bounced like a yo-yo.

Outdoor messy exploration… so fun!