Rainbow Creations - Art and Craft for Children - Blog

Today we foraged for blackberries with the intention to collect and print with them. We wanted to experiment with different mediums for children's art in Autumn. Or aim was to reproduce the beautiful colours, textures and shapes found in blackberry bushes in the form of printmaking. First of all we needed to make a background collage of leaves for the blackberries to nestle into and hide between. We could have used some real blackberry leaves but but decided, after looking closely at the shape of the leaves of a blackberry bush we found a leaf in our our bag of mixed type artificial leaves which was so very similar, if not the same. To print the leaves we used the reverse of the leaf as the veins were raised, which meant that the detail would stand out more on the print. The leaf was painted with green paint , brushed on with a chubby paint brush for even coverage of the leaf. Once the paper was covered in leaf prints we decided a second shade of green would loo...

Simple printmaking can be done at a very young age. Children can print with any objects that has a shape and a relatively flat surface. Potato printing is a traditional method of printing for young children, where by a shape is cut into the surface of half a potato. Other vegetables can be use for their difference in shape. Painting on half of a sheet of paper and then folding the paper over is another method of printing by mirroring the applied paint on the opposite side of the paper. Finger paintings also can be printed - a pool of paint on a slippery surface, such as a tray, can be swirled around and drawn in with the fingers then printed by placing paper over the top and rubbing firmly.   Household objects can be printed with or any thing which had an interesting texture, such as cotton reels, potato mashers, toy cards, cups etc.   Printing with sponge shapes Printing sponges Foam dabbers Foam dabbers make wonderful prints which can be join...