Making monotype prints is magical because you never quite know what you are going to get when you transfer the art from the plate to paper. The art form sits somewhere in the middle of painting and print making. We used cookie sheets as the base for creating the image but you can use other smooth surfaces such as plexiglass. Even though making each piece of art takes multiple steps children can move quick and most students were able to produce several prints in a short period of time which creates a sense of accomplishment and just plain fun.
Some of the best images came when we used foam rollers with tempera and then drew with a q-tip.
Here is a 2-3 year old class busy at work, mixing colors, making textures, and pulling prints.
Transferring the image onto paper is so much fun.
This student really perfected the q-tip technique. His style inspired me to do a “meandering line” lesson the next time I teach this project.
Some students were really fascinated by the process and were inspired to do several prints.
Yay for sunshine! My veggie beds are almost complete. I got mulch down so the kids can easily and safely move between the beds, but the frames for each box aren’t quite finished. I figured this was a good opportunity to do some digging and mixing to make mud painting before veggies are planted.
All ages loved this project. I had a variety of scoops, shovels, spoons, mixing bowls, a bucket of water, and flower petals for finishing touches. I dubbed the flower petals “natures glitter”.
Mud painting was a surprising clean and calm activity. Children are usually discouraged from digging and playing in the dirt so they were happy to be supported in this activity.
There were a few who wanted to keep their hands clean, but they still found pleasure through play. Nothing like making mud tracks with a truck.
Mud painting is the essence of an open ended project and play based learning. Most of the fun was had in the process but we did have some successful finished projects as you can see above and below.
