Printmaking Activities for Kids

[ByExample]

Howdy,

I recently worked on a Thanksgiving placemat project with the kids of Concho. We used several printmaking techniques which are simple and inexepensive to make placemats for a community meal. Everyone had a really great time with the printmaking project. To see pictures of our placemats go to:

http://byexample.com/articles/community/thanksgiving_activities/

Over the summer I also had the opportunity to explore printmaking activities that are good for for summercamps. Working with the Concho kids we made our own rubber stamps, printed with recycled styrofoam, and made a group found object print. To see my summer camp project descriptions view the following link:

http://byexample.com/articles/community/summer_camps_activities/

These printmaking activities are simple to do at home and use primarily recycled materials and stuff from the dollar store. If anyone else has any art projects for kids please share. I am particularly intersted in painting and printmaking. Thank you!

http://byexample.com/library/photos/art_projects/thanksgiving_activities/printmaking_03839.jpg

[CarolAnn]

I had a friend who was a midwife, and she opened a clinic in an old store front. Her kids and I painted an oriental "rug" on the cement floor because we couldn't afford a real carpet.

We started by painting a large rectangle. The border was done by cutting leaf designs on a foam roller and peeling away the bits to expose the leaves in relief. Then we just rolled the border around the inside edge! Inside that went a narrow stripe rolled on with a cut-down foam roller. And in the middle, we stamped flowers and leaves using bits of sponge cut into shapes and glued onto a piece of cardboard.

We did a fringe on two ends by making a series of rather sloppy dots with one brush for knots, and a loose slash of fringe with a big 4" house painting brush.
We even painted one corner like it was flipped over!

Her kids ranged from 5 to 12, and we only had to be careful to work away from the fresh stamping so it wouldn't get smeared. When all the layers had dried over night, I rolled on a coat of low-gloss polyurethane to give it durability. It looked great!

PS -
Your place mats look so fabulous - maybe you could put a cover of clear contact paper over both sides so they'd be reusable!

[ByExample]

Thats a great idea! Foam rollers...I will keep that in mind - I'm sure there are all kinds of painting/printing things that you can do with that.

Once I made a floor covering too - we used rectangular sponges and red paint. We printed with the sponges in a brick pattern to make a faux outdoor patio. It sounds like it was similar to the project that you did - but we painted on a large piece of canvas. That way we could roll it up and use it as floor in a vending tent.

Thanks for your feedback!

mel@byexample

[DV8]

Painting your own oriental rug. what a fabulous idea !!

I Bet that was nice. Great idea CarolAnn