Springtime Printmaking

In this lesson, we used everyday objects as stamps to create an image of something related to spring.  To start, I drew a picture of a tulip on a piece of white construction paper using a pencil.  Once the image was drawn, I chose to use a plastic fork, cotton ball  Q-tip, and the edge of a piece of cardboard to paint the colors. in.  Since this lesson was about printmaking, we needed to use at least three different items as stamps.  

While working, it was important not to have too much paint on your stamp.  If you did have too much, the print that it made just looked like a blob of paint instead of the actual item.  This lesson also gave us more practice mixing colors.  To create the orange that I used on the head of the flower, I mixed red and yellow, adding more red as I got closer to the stem.  

An extension activity that could be done with this process is to have students make an image like this for every season of the year.  That way, students will have plenty of opportunities to use various items as stamps and will look forward to trying new methods to create their images.  Also, by having an activity that can go along with each season, it will be easier to cover the seasons equally and discuss the main characteristics of them.