Printmaking with Kids

 On a recent trip to the library Grayson picked out this fantastic book. He grabbed it because of the boat on the cover, but when we got home and opened it up I was very happy he did. "If You Lived Here" gave us a chance to step into homes all around the world. It is filled with beautiful illustrations and very detailed descriptions of each home.

 Since I had just picked up some scratch foam- I thought it would be fun to tie in this book with some printmaking. After I read the book to the kids we chatted for awhile about the different homes we have lived in. I asked them to imagine what their home would look like if they could live anywhere, in any home.

 Once they had their ideas Em got to work sketching it into the scratch foam and Grayson...well, Grayson was on to the next more exciting event in his day.
If you have not used scratch foam, it is a wonderful tool! It's basically a Styrofoam paper and is a very inexpensive way to introduce children to printmaking.
You start by drawing your image right on the foam. We used a basic pencil to do this.

  Next, using a foam roller we covered the scratch foam with a black acrylic paint.

 Em placed a sheet of cardstock right on top of the foam and pressed softly across the drawing. You could also use a rolling pin to be sure all areas of the drawing get equal pressure.

 The best part is lifting up the paper to see your print. It's definitely one of those "wow factor" moments in the project.

 Here is my drawing. Em asked why I drew so many homes. Well, because in my perfect home I would have all of my many siblings (parents, nieces, nephews...and so on) living on the same street as me. What a dream that would be!

 Em wrote the name of our city on top and was not very happy when the print showed it backwards! I had to laugh a bit and also tear up some because she finally (after almost 2 years of asking to move back to CA) has come to love this amazing place we now call home.