Category: Homemade Art Supplie

Printmaking Tools for Open Ended Process Art

On By aprilzajkoIn Art Center, Art Classes, Early Childhood Education, Homemade Art Supplie, Materials, Writing CenterLeave a comment

Oh the joy of printmaking with children! Here is a lovely wintery scene we made recently in my preschool classroom!

Printmaking is one of my favorite process art invitations. I love gathering a variety of interesting materials to offer to my students to have them explore the process of printmaking. What I love is that ALL my students can find joy in the process and often express how much fun they have when making prints. 

A new favorite tool that I found on Discount School Supply are these “Colorations Fingers and Hands Stampers” (set of 12)

I reached out to some other process loving educators to brainstorm a list of materials to explore. And because nothing is quite as satisfying as making a handy ABC order list to share with my GROWN UP students in my workshops and courses…I did just that this week! 

{Drumroll please} Here is your very own access to the “ABCs of Printmaking Materials”. Hit reply and tell me what I missed…what is a material you love to use in printmaking that I left off the list! I’d love to hear about your process for doing printmaking with children! Or do you dabble in the FUN of printmaking yourself?!

ABC List of Printmaking Materials

  • Alphabet magnets 
  • Balloons – inflate and dip in paint to make interesting paint circles, push different amounts to vary the size of the circles (make a snowman?)
  • Bottle caps & milk jug lids
  • Brayer roller – (ink roller) the hard rubber kind, if buying new get the 4in and 2.2 in – these are great for ink for older kids/adults, or experiment with liquid watercolors!
  • Bubble wrap (makes great prints that look like snowballs falling from the sky)
  • Burlap pieces ~ different weaves and textures; after the print making, perhaps chop up the painted burlap as a collage material?
  • Cardboard cut into geometric shapes
  • Cardboard tube – thick ones from Cricut vinyl rolls are really durable
  • Clothespins with pieces of sponge (geometric shapes); extra clothespins as some kids like to attach things so their fingers stay paint free 
  • Cookie cutters
  • Corrugated cardboard edges
  • Cotton balls; 
  • Cotton rounds in 3 different sizes
  • “Colorations Fingers and Hands Stampers” (set of 12) – see last pic in blog post, these are from Discount School Supply
  • Dice
  • Egg cartons – cut up into different shapes
  • Fruit basket / berry baskets from the market – cut apart to make a snowflake shape
  • G
  • Hair combs – different widths and tooth sizes 
  • Hair rollers – different textures
  • I
  • Juice lids – like frozen OJ lids that are metal 
  • Kitchen tools – potato masher, small sieve, scrapers, spatulas 
  • Lace scraps
  • Legos or Duplos 
  • Liners from candy boxes – different textures. Create a negative space print. (great excuse to buy and eat candy, too!)
  • Mason jar rings 
  • Mesh bags that onions & oranges come in ~ snakeskin or mermaid effect
  • Natural loose parts – from your stash: seashells, 
  • Organic plant material from your aread – go for a winter walk and gather: leaves, sticks, lichen, bark, pine leaf clusters, pinecones 
  • Packing peanuts 
  • Plastic woodland animals (or dinos) – make tracks in the snow!
  • Pencil – use eraser end
  • Q-tips 
  • Ribbon spools – empty circles that thin or thick ribbon comes on are great for printing larger circles as little hands can hold on to them!
  • Shoes – children’s shoes can make great prints, like walking in the snow or mud using paint
  • Soup cans with label off & ends cut off with a tool that makes them not sharp
  • Spatula blades – cut different textures into them for printmaking – inspired by Princeton Catalyst blades https://www.dickblick.com/products/princeton-catalyst-blades-mini-blades/
  • Sponges with different textures 
  • Styrofoam trays – cut into different shapes / use a chopstick to etch in designs to print (use a Brayer with liquid watercolor for finer detail)
  • Thread spools – look for ones with different designs, narrow spools
  • Tubes – especially those thick ones from vinyl from Cricut machines
  • Toy cars or trucks – tracks with paint 
  • U
  • Valentine chocolate boxes ~ add a bunch of heart shaped tools: heart cookie cutters
  • Wine corks – different sizes
    X
  • Yarn – string painting – dip in string and splat or print onto paper
  • Yarn wrapped block – dip in paint and press onto paper, turn block different ways for different effects. 
  • Z

Dough Recipes for PLAY

On By aprilzajkoIn DIY, Homemade Art Supplie, SensoryLeave a comment

Feel free to print out this list to share with families. You might even attach a little note that says “Our class KNEADS fresh play dough every two weeks. Can we count on you to mix us up a bunch?”

person flattening dough with rolling pin
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

 

 

Cloud Dough

Materials: 8 cups flour, 1 cup vegetable oil

Directions: gently stir the two ingredients together until well mixed. Add scoops, spoons, measuring cups, sand molds, silicone bowls, plastic cookie cutters, and popsicle sticks for cutting.

To color cloud dough: add crushed chalk, powdered paint, or “candy coloring” or “oil based food coloring”. (Regular food coloring is water based and will not mix with oil in the recipe.) To contain the mess: put the dough into a under the bed storage bin and lay it on a tarp

 

No Cook Play Dough

Materials: 2 cups flour, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil, ½ cup salt, 2 T. cream of tartar, up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in slowly until the texture feel right), food coloring.
Directions: Mix the dry ingredients together. Add food coloring to the boiling water and then stir into the dry ingredients. Stir until the dough combines. Allow to cool a bit and then knead for a few minutes until the dough feels smooth.

 

Kool-Aid Play Dough

Materials: 1 ¼  cup flour, ¼ cup salt, 1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid powder, 1 cup boiling water, 1 ½  Tbsp vegetable oil
Directions: In a bowl, mix flour, salt and kool-aid.  Stir in water and oil. Knead with hands for about 5 minutes. Store in ziploc bag or air tight container. This play dough smell great which may be too much temptation for younger children, but it’s vivid color is awesome!

 

Seed or Grain Dough– make homemade dough as usual. When offering it to the children, set out small bowls of a variety of seeds or grains. Children can pretend to plant the seeds into the dough. Once the seeds are kneaded into the dough it has a great texture. Seeds to try —sunflower, flax, squash, pumpkin, wheat berries, corn, rice, poppy, or any excess seeds that you gathered from the previous growing season.

 

Bright White Play Dough

Materials: 1 cup cornstarch, 2 cup salt, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp cream of tartar, 1 cup boiling (or nearly boiling) water, few drops liquid glycerin (makes it smoother), silver glitter

 

Directions: In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, then add the oil, grown up pours in boiling water, and mix. Let cool for a bit, then knead until smooth, add in glitter.

 

White Play Dough is great for making snowmen, add items to encourage snowmen creations:  buttons, small piece of shiny pipe cleaners, beans, and beads!!! Maybe for carrot noses make rolled orange paper beads?

 

 

Salt Dough

Materials: 1 cup salt, 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup luke warm water

 

Directions: Mix the dry ingredients together, then gradually stir in the water until it forms a dough consistency. Knead the dough for 5 minutes so that it is smooth. Let children create ornaments or 3D creations out of the salt dough, if the item will be hung, use a straw to poke a hole in it prior to baking.

Bake at 200F until dry. Most thin ornaments will dry in 1 hour, but thicker creations may need 2 hours. Check on the items, and if anything seems to be curling, flip over part way through the baking time.

After cooled, children can paint their creations with acrylic paint and a grown up can seal with clear varnish or polyurethane spray.