Elementary Prints

You can do these types of prints at home easily (for those that have kids or homeschool). All you need are washable markers, cheap hair gel, and Styrofoam plates.

First, cut the edges off of the plates so they are totally flat.

Then, use a dull pencil to draw in your design. Because it is on foam it will dent or scratch the foam rather than leaving a gray pencil mark - that's a good thing.

After you have your design down, color in how ever you like with the markers being careful to not touch the marker on the plate or it will come off.

Next, on manila or white paper lay down a THIN layer of hair gel with a paint brush (or liquid starch or dish soap). There needs to be no globs or lines - totally smooth. It should look like it is already soaked into the paper and you can't scrap anymore off.

Once you have done that lay your print on the gel marker side down. You can use a rolling pin or maybe even a canned good to roll over the print (making sure not to move it) to lay the marker down really well.

They dry really quickly...maybe in 30 minutes.

Here are my students. We didn't use the plates but pre-cut pieces of Styrofoam...works the same way.

5th - Paisley

4th - Penn. Dutch

3rd - Radial Symm.

2nd - Pop art (Andy Warhol)

1st - Cave Drawings

Kinder - Basic lines and shapes

They had so much fun and giggled when I said we were using hair gel.

Enjoy!