styrofoam plates | Mama Cormier

…..a real ‘hoot’ of an art lesson

About a month ago I introduced a print making lesson using styrofoam boards. The grades 2 and 3 classes were introduced to a variety of owls and were instructed to sketch several different styles of owl. Then they had to choose their favourite sketch and transfer the pattern onto the styrofoam plate. Once the design was impressed into the foam the children were given water based markers and they filled in the owl shape with lots of colour.

I showed the students a variety of owl prints that I had done using the same pattern but different colours and different papers. Here are some of my examples:

When the students finished colouring their plates they brought them to me and selected the paper they wanted to print on. I sprayed the paper and wiped off the excess water and then laid the plate on the paper. We used a roller to press the paper down onto the plate and finished off by using our fingers to push on the details like the eyes, beaks and feet to transfer the marker onto the paper.

There was a lot of trial and error but we quickly figured out what worked and what didn’t. Too much water and the colours all ran together, not enough and the print was too faint. A plain solid colour worked better than a busy print but newsprint with text on it was quite effective. The paper that worked best was card stock and water colour paper.

In front of the library I put up a forest of birch trees for our Forest of Reading Book Club and the leaves represent all the books that have been read by the members of the club. I asked each student in my art classes to donate one of their owls to place on the trees.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this lesson. I’ll post that in a day or two.

…the expression on his face and the surprise in his voice made it all worthwhile

For the last week, and more I’ve been pulling prints with the grade 4s and 5s. Today all the 3s and 4s in the school were away on field trips and I had the luxury of working with the 12 grade 5 students that were left behind in one of the classes. This class has been particularly challenging just because of the shear size when combined with the grade 4s and because they are very social and chatty.

I decided to work with the chattiest of the bunch and those that were the furthest behind with their printmaking. Not surprising most of the six that I worked with were boys. I set up a printing station in the hallway and while I worked with small groups of 3 the remaining students were working on a drawing activity that required quite a bit of concentration.

This is the activity that kept the other half of the class busy while I worked with the printers.

This set up worked fairly well. The students that I worked with in the printing area were very excited about the whole printing process. My only regret is that I didn’t take pictures while they worked but I found I was very involved with the students and needed to keep a close eye on the their progress. The temptation to cover the walls, floor and each other with hand prints was too great. Luckily none of that happened.

My greatest joy came when I heard the oohs and aahs of the students as they pulled the plates away from the paper or their fabric. One boy in particular was especially surprised at how well his print turned out. It was probably the most focused he’s ever been in art class and it paid off. All the students today loved this activity so much that they gladly stayed behind to help me clean up and there is a lot of washing up when it comes to printing.

Sometimes, when an activity is messy and time consuming, teachers are reluctant to attempt it. The finished products, however, and the pride of accomplishment that the students feel make it all worthwhile.

Next week I’ll take some photographs of the finished projects and post them for your enjoyment.