Winter forest prints

I found this lesson on Mrs. Knight's art class blog. Take a look on that blog to see more beautiful artworks.



You need:

1. ribbed cardboard


2. flat cardboard


3. woodsies


4. coloured construction paper


5. block printing ink


6. piece of plexiglass


7. roller

Students make a collage of trees, cut from pieces of flat and ribbed cardboard and woodsies. Tell them the cardboard can be used in two ways: from top to bottom or from left to right.

Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip some paint on the glass and roll it out. Roll the paint on the trees. Put a sheet on top of it and press firmly with a flat hand. Make different prints, choose the best one to paste on a coloured background.    

Stamped polar bears

 

Made by students of grade 1

You need:

1. blue construction paper


2. pencil


3. tempera paint white and black


4. marshmellows


5. brush


6. glitter


7. glue

Show how to draw a polar bear out of simple shapes: circle, half of a circle (ears) and a part of a triangle for the body. Talk about the grey shadow under the head. How do you make gray? Tell students they have to stamp with marshmellows or brushes. Do not paint!

Students draw the head of a polar bear on blue paper. Use white to stamp head and body. Use grey to stamp the shadow. Paint eyes and nose with a small brush. Decorate the artwork with glitter.

Gingerbread man printing lesson

 

You need:

1. two pieces of linoleum 10 x 10 cm


2. lino knife


3. block printing ink


4. flat piece of plexiglass


5. linoleum roller


6. white sheets


7. lino press


8. scissors, glue


9. coloured paper

Draw a gingerbread cookie on both pieces of linoleum. Cut away the outlines of the first linoleum, and the background of the second one. Print in one or two (Christmas) colours and paste on coloured paper.

Winter scenes

You need:

1. styrofoam



2. pencil



3. block printing ink



4. paint roller



5. flat piece of plexiglass



6. coloured paper

Explain the principle of printing. Why is it that people started to print texts and pictures?



Draw a winter scene with a pencil on the styrofoam. Squeeze out “toothpaste” amount of ink on plexiglass. Roll ink out. The ink is ready when lines appear. Ink should look wet.

Put the styrofoam on a newspaper. Roll one colour ink onto the foam, working quickly to cover all areas. Lay a sheet on top of foam and press with a flat hand. Take away the sheet and your print is ready. Let dry and cut it with about 1 cm around. Paste one or more prints on a white sheet. Decorate the frame with fingerprints.

Made by students of grade 2

Printed mushrooms, group work

Group work by students of grade 3

You need:

1. piece of linoleum 15 x 15 cm


2. lino knife


3. block printing ink


4. flat piece of plexiglass


5. linoleum roller


6. white sheets


7. lino press


8. autumn leaves


9. scissors


10. glue


11. coloured cardboard

Draw a mushroom on your linoleum. Cut away the linoleum around the mushroom. Remember: what you cut away will not print. It is not important to carve deeply into linoleum, just enough so that carved area is lower than the linoleum surface. Always carve away from your hand, always keep your hand behind the back edge of linoleum. When you want to check your printing block, place a piece of paper on the linoleum and rub over the paper with a crayon. This will create a “rubbing” and will give you an idea of what the final print will look like.

Squeeze out “toothpaste” amount of ink on plexiglass. Roll ink out. The ink is ready when lines appear. Ink should look wet. 

Put your linoleum block on a newspaper. Roll one or two colours ink onto the linoleum printing block, working quickly to cover all areas. Lay the block on a sheet in the printing press and press. Take away the block and your print is ready.

To make a group work, all students have to cut out on of their their prints. Leave a white edge around the mushroom. Ask some students to make a collage of all mushrooms on  a piece of dark coloured cardboard. Paste some autumn leaves on the bottom of the collage.

Flowers behind fence

Flowers behind fence with fingerprinted flowers, grade 1

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. masking tape


3. scissors


4. tempera paint


5. stencil brushes


6. bubble wrap


7. sponge strips

Create a fence with pieces of masking tape, about 2 cm from the bottom.

 

 

Cut a piece of bubble wrap that is as large as the sheet of drawing paper. Paint it with a thick brush, half blue and half green. Put the drawing sheet on top and rub with the hand, creating a bubble print. Use sponge strips (cut from an ordinary sponge) to stamp steals and leaves.

Use stencil brushes to stamp petals of use your fingers to print them. Stamp/print some flowers under the fence an between the poles of the fence. Leave the work to dry and gently pull off the masking tape.

Flowers behind fence with stamped flowers, grade 2

Handprinted chicken

You need:

1. yellow paper 15 by 15 cm


2. green paper 16 by 16 cm


3. brushes


4. stapler

Paint the hand and press onto the paper. Be sure the thumb faces up or forward, not down. Complete the chicken  with legs, an eye, a comb and a beak.  Paint grass and another little chicken if you want to.  

Printed tulips

 

You need:

1. cardboard of a box


2. scissors


3. block printing ink


4. flat piece of glass


5. linoleum roller


6. white or coloured sheets A4 size

Draw two or three tulips in different sizes on a cardboard box. Cut them. Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip some paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Roll the paint on the tulips and press them on a white or coloured sheet, using a book. Remove the tulips of the sheet and roll them again. Add white to the colour on the glass for a lighter colour. Place the tulips tulips partly overlapping the first, and press again with a book.

Scenes from a fairy tale

Hansel and Gretel, made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. piece of linoleum of 15 by 15 cm


2. drawing sheets A4 size


3. lino knives


4. block printing ink


5. flat piece of glass


6. linoleum roller


7. lino press


8. white paper A2 size


9. scissors


10. glue

I got the idea for this lesson from Artlessons from Belgium. This is a group assignment for four students.

Every group of students chooses a fairytale that has to be represented in images. They discuss the most important parts and each students cuts one scene out of linoleum. After printing the scenes, they paste them in the right order to create a fairytale cartoon. Use letter stamps to print the name of the story above.



I chose to let all students print their part of the fairytale four times. The best print is for yourself. Each student gets one print of the other three group members, so every student has his own cartoon.

The princess on the pea

Longing for spring: printing flowers!

You need:

1. piece of linoleum of 12 by 12 cm
2. several sorts of paper
3. lino knives
4. block printing ink
5. flat piece of glass
6. linoleum roller
7. lino press
8. coloured cardboard 34 by 12 cm
9. scissors
10. glue or stapler

Students draw one or more flowers on their piece of linoleum and cut it out. Then the flower has to be printed on three different sorts of paper. In this lesson I choose for coloured construction paper, a brown paper bag and white white woven towels from the dispenser.
Cut the prints with 1 cm around. Paste or staple them on coloured cardboard.
Spring can come!

Both artworks are made by students of grade 4

Wild flowers

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 8 cm
2. colour pencils
3. tempera paint
4. q-tips
5. saucer

A short lesson with great results!
Draw a lot of flower stems on the black paper with several colours green. Stamp the petals above and between the stems, using tempera and q-tips.

Stamped snowmen

You need:

1. coloured construction paper A3 size
2. white and black tempera
3. saucer
4. brush
5. wine bottle corks

Give all students a sheet of coloured construction paper. Give a saucer with white paint and a little black paint for every two students. Children have to use a cork to stamp a snowman. Knots, eyes and mouth have to be made by finger printing. Only a hat or broom may be painted with a brush.

By students of grade 1

Owls in the night

You need:

1. blue construction paper 15 by 20 cm
2. white tempera paint
3. piece of cardboard
4. brush
5. saucer
6. paper towel
7. fine black marker
8. yellow pencil

Draw a moon and colour it with yellow pencil. Paint the bottom of the blue sheet white with tempera paint.

Put a paper towel on a saucer. Put a stripe of white tempera paint on the towel. The paper towel will function as a stamp pad. Dip the edge of a piece of cardboard into the white paint and print a trunk. Drag the cardboard a bit to create a thicker trunk. Print several branches. Be sure to leave some space between the branches for the owls.

Use a fingertop and white paint to print the body of the owls. Leave the work to dry.

Draw eyes with a yellow pencil. Outline the eyes with a fine black marker. Draw details like feathers, beak and legs.

Print snow flakes using a q-tip or the end of a brush.

Let it snow!

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
2. white tempera paint
3. saucer
4. paper towel
5. fine markers in black and white
6. metallic gel pens

I found the idea of printed snowmen in one of Usborne's activity books. With music lines, I made my own lesson of it.

Draw curved music lines with a white or silver pen on the black sheet. Put a piece of paper towel on a saucer so it can serve as a stamp pad. Drip some tempera paint the paper towel. Use your thumb to stamp the bodies of the snowmen. Add a fingerprint for a head.

When the paint is dry, you can add eyes, nose, mouth, arms, buttons etc. Use gel pens and markers. Draw some music notes on the lines and write the lyrics of a winter song belof the lines.

I love Holland

Made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. two pieces of linoleum of 12 by 12 cm
2. white drawing paper
3. lino knives
4. block printing ink in red and blue
5. flat piece of glass
6. linoleum roller
7. lino press
8. cardboard in red and blue
9. scissors
10. glue

What are typical Dutch things? Make a word web with the children. Think about cheese, canal houses, tulips, wooden shoes, cows etc.

The children create a drawing on a scrap of paper with the theme I love Holland. Not too many details, because the drawing will be printed. The drawing has to be copied on both pieces of linoleum. It doesn't matter if they don't match exactly; this is even fun while making a two colour print, because the drawing seems to shift a bit.


Use different linoleum knives. Cut the drawing from the first piece of linoleum. Cut the background from the second piece of linoleum, leaving the object. Lines within the object should be cut too.

Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip some red paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make 2 prints of your work on a white sheet. Rinse the linoleum clean and make 2 prints in blue in the same way.

Repeat this process with the second piece of linoleum: 2 prints in red and 2 in blue. There will be 8 prints if you're finished.

2 pieces of linoleum, 2 colours, 8 prints

Finally use one or more of those prints to make a two colour print. This has to be done by inking piece 1 red and printing it on a blue print of piece 2. See picture below.

Let students choose their best prints and let them decide how many prints they want to use for their final artwork. Cut the prints with 1 cm white aound them. Make a composition on blue or red cardboard and paste the prints with 1 cm between them.

Final composition I love Holland, by Malou, grade 6

Transport yourself

You need:

1. piece of linoleum of 16 by 12 cm
2. white paper towel from a towel dispenser
3. mat
4. block printing ink
5. flat piece of glass
6. linoleum roller
7. lino press

What kind of transport do you know? Think of cars, limosines, trucks, airplanes, but also of skateboards, strollers etc. Everything with wheels can be used to transport persons!

Draw a mean of transportation on a piece of linoleum and cut it out. Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip the paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make several prints of your work on textured towel paper. Choose the best one to be your artwork.

Printed leaves

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. flat dried autumn leaves
3. white tempera and another cool colour
4. brush
5. colour pencils
6. piece of sponge

I found this project on Artsonia. Ask students to take some autumn leaves for this lesson. The leaves should be dried flat, for example in a phone book.

Paint the veined side of a leaf with thick white tempera. Press the leaf on black paper; use a clean sheet to cover the leaf and press on it with flat hand. Do this with several leaves.
Then pick an additional cool colour to blend with the leftover white paint and sponge paint the background. Be sure to leave a little black around each leaf for contrast.



Add some autumn colour to each leaf using coloured pencils.

Auntie Annie's plants

Made by a student of 11 years old

You need:

1. one piece of linoleum from 15 by 15 cm
2. black construction paper
3. lino knives
4. mat
5. white block printing ink
6. flat piece of glass
7. linoleum roller
8. lino press

In auntie Annie's window you'll find a varied collection of plants. Plants in huge pots, small pots, big plants, tiny plants, a lot of leaves or just very little. As the evening darkness fills the room of auntie Annie, the plant collection may look like a group of creeps....

Draw the plants on a piece of linoleum and cut them out. Vary in the flower pots by cutting the whole pot away, of leaving just the edges. You may also cut decorations in the pots.

Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip the paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make several prints of your work. Choose the best one to be your artwork.

And, are Auntie Annie's plants really creepy?

Japanese cherry blossom

Made by Brittany, 12 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. Indian ink
3. straw
4. pink tempera paint (or red and white)
5. saucer
6. Q-tip

For centuries flowers are strongly represented in the Japanese culture and lifestyle. Think of the kimonos, paintings, tableware and Japanese floral art (ikebana). The cherry blossom is the main flower in terms of symbolic value.

Cherry blossom is called sakura in Japanese. The sakura symbolizes the human life. The bloom is the sign that spring has begun, but the deeper meaning is that this abundant sign of life, just like in human life, is subject to influences that we do not control. Sun, rain and wind determine the duration of flowering.

It is important to enjoy the intense bloom of life, says sakura. Then the trick is to accept that the bloom will be only short. Like the blossom man is also at the mercy of the whims of nature. The one will bloom better and longer, the other must be satisfied with an inconspicuous spot in the shade.

Luckily cherry blossoms are not only seen in Japan. View a flowering tree with the children if there is one in the neighbourhood of the school, take along branches or shows pictures.

Drip a little Indian ink on a white sheet of paper. Blow it with a straw as wide as possible, to make branches. Let it dry. Use a Q-tip to print the blossom.

Printed nameplate

By Anne, 10 years old

You need:

1. one piece of linoleum from 14 x 14 cm
2. drawing paper
3. lino knives
4. mat
5. block printing ink
6. flat piece of glass
7. linoleum roller
8. lino press

Children draw their name in mirror image on the linoleum. They draw something of their own choice, or decorate their name. Use lino knives in different sizes to cut away the background and lines in their drawing if necessary.

Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip the paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make several prints of your work. Choose the best one to be your artwork.