Create your own stamps and print your way to playful patterns and textures.
What You Need:
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Glue
- Stamp pad
- Paper
What You Do:
- Cut a piece of cardboard about 3 inches by 3 inches. This will be the base of your stamp.
- Cut additional pieces of cardboard in any shapes you’d like that are smaller than your stamp base. Play around with arranging the pieces on your stamp base in different compositions.
- Glue the shape pieces to the stamp base and let dry.
- Cut a piece of cardboard about 1 inch by 1 inch and glue to the back to use as a handle.
- Now it’s time to print! Press your stamp on the ink pad and print it on a piece of paper. Try turning the stamp as you print to create different patterns.
Words to Use:
- Printmaking: Making designs or images by printing them with ink and allows many copies of the same picture.
- Pattern: A regularly repeated arrangement of shapes, colors or lines on a surface.
- Composition: The way in which different parts that make up a picture are arranged.
What to Talk About:
- How many different patterns can you make with one stamp?
- What kinds of art or products are made with prints?
Change It Up:
- Fold your printed paper into a card and write a letter to a friend.
- Make two stamps and create a checkerboard grid pattern.
- Try overlapping different colors to experiment with color mixing.
Learning Connections:
- Creativity
- Imagination
- Innovation
- Visual-Spatial Thinking
- Using Tools
Curriculum Connections:
NC Standard Course of Study
- Visual Arts K.V.1.1, K.V.1.4, K.V.3.1, K.V.3.3, K.CR.1.1, 1.V.1.1, 1.V.1.4, 1.V.1.5, 2.V.1.4, 2.V.1.5, 2.V.3.1, 3.V.1.4, 3.V.1.5, 3.V.3.1, 3.V.3.3, 4.V.1.4, 4.V.3.3, 5.V.1.5, 5.V.3.3
- Math NC.K.G.1, NC.K.G.2, NC.K.G.3, NC.K.G.5, NC.1.G.1