Stamp Making: Discovery at Home

What you need:

  • Cardboard or foam board.
  • Scissors.
  • Glue or hot glue.
  • Various textures: bottle caps, rubber bands, string, etc.
  • Paint brush.
  • Paper plate.
  • Various colored paints.
  • Paper.

Directions:

  1. Cut 3-5 squares out of the cardboard.
  2. Attach bottle caps, glue, string, etc. to one side of each square.
  3. Use a paint brush to paint the stamp you made.
  4. Press the stamp onto paper and add as many as you’d like.

Ways to Expand the Activity:

  • On a large sheet of cardboard, attach all the objects you want on one side. Then paint it and press the paper on top of the stamps. This would be a form of printmaking.

What Kids Learn:

  • Stamps impress a pattern or mark on a surface using an engraved, inked blocked, or died instrument.
  • Texture is the feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance.
  • Print is an indentation or mark left on a surface or soft substance by pressure.
  • Printmaking is the transferring of images from one surface to another.