I came across another technique on the Let's Explore blog -- laying down a layer of paint, and then etching paint away to make the design.
It was a big success -- the children really liked laying down their colors and then taking away. This is a new way for them to think about drawing, too -- it is a new way for them to experience the idea of an outline and line drawings. On Let's Explore, they used cotton swabs to take the paint away -- my last minute planning left us with straws. But it was a busy part of the room all morning.
When I moved to Europe from Seattle last July, it was hard for me to part with the four beautiful pieces of glass that I had found on the side of the road that the children last year used for printing. I was teaching in a parent co-op, so when we were doing that activity, there was a parent available to wash the glass between children. I came across the glossy boards I have now while moving into this classroom -- they didn't appear to be in use for anything else! There are six or seven of them, and we use them all of the time.
But for those of you who do not have glass or glossy boards, I have a brilliant and affordable solution : flexible cutting boards! We just used them for the first time the other day after a little lightbulb went off in my head. Unbreakable AND kids can wash them themselves. That is part of our classroom printing routine : paint, print, drying rack, wash the board.
They would also be nice, easy-to-clean painting surfaces for projects at home...
Cutting board printing in action in our classroom...
Bon week-end!
brilliant indeed!
ReplyDeletei love hearing the noise of your classroom.
i want to see more!!!
We've been doing this too. It works really great with Styrofoam met containers since you can make really deep lines. And it's a great way to reuse Styrofoam (if you have it in your neck of the woods). The kids usually keep the original Styrofoam piece too.
ReplyDeleteallie, have you made styrofoam prints? basically you "carve" a piece of styrofoam (can be an ordinary styrofoam plate — we used to cut out the flat middles) with a dull pencil, then roll over with ink and print. you can make many different prints with the same carved piece, in different colors, on different media, etc.
ReplyDeleteMichelle and Lori, I had completely forgotten about that -- a parent in the coop did that last year. And when the kids can keep their original design, they can make it over and over again. I have seen plenty of styrofoam here, too, so we'll start collecting rather than tossing it. Thanks :)
ReplyDelete