What you need:
- Wax paper.
- Paper.
- Paints.
- Paint brush.
- Comb, back of paintbrushes, or cotton swab to add textures (optional).
Directions:
- Cut a sheet of wax paper.
- Paint on your wax paper however you’d like.
- Use your finger, a comb, the back of a paintbrush, or a cotton swab to add textures and/or designs to your paint.
- Set a piece of paper on top of your wax paper and press down.
- Peel off the piece of paper and you’ll see the print you just made!
What kids learn:
- Fine motor skills. Kids practice using the small muscles in their hands later used for writing.
- Symbolic thinking, or the ability to think about one thing representing something else. When small children begin to connect a tree on paper to the tree on their street, they start building the connections in the brain that allow for reading and learning later.
Vocabulary:
- Printmaking. The activity or occupation of making pictures or designs by printing them from specially prepared plates or blocks.
- Texture. The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance.
- Monoprint. A print that is usually limited to one copy. Mono means one. A monoprint is typically drawn or painted onto a plate, block, or surface and then transferred onto paper.