Printmaking

The first step in this project was to sketch out a drawing of a chosen season on a white piece of paper. Then, we traced over the drawing on top of a styrofoam sheet in order to indent and transfer the image. We traced over the styrofoam sheet one final time to ensure there was enough of an indent that the paint would not seep into the valleys. 

Next was the actual printmaking part. We loaded the brayer with ink and made sure it was evenly coated. Then, we rolled over the indented side of the styrofoam with the ink, making sure it was all evenly covered. Once it was coated, we flipped over the stamp onto another piece of construction paper in order to transfer the image. As a final step, we rolled over the back of the styrofoam with another clean brayer to ensure that the stamp was pressed down firmly and all the ink was transferred. The styrofoam could then be removed to reveal the final print.

Extension: You could do this activity for almost any subject matter. For example, if students were learning how to draw nets from 3-D figures in math class, you could extend this activity and have them sketch and trace their nets into the styrofoam to be printed.