My 5th and 6th grade students studied Africa and the African Adinkra stamped cloths. I showed them a slide show of images.
Examples of Adinkra symbols were shown for inspiration. Check out my African Adinkra Pinterest board for handouts of symbols. The kids could use these ideas and embellish upon them or come up with their own symbol based on some of these ideas.
They used linoleum cutters
This is a picture of all of our stamps on one large poster. We are going to sell this at our school auction as a fundraiser.
Here is another picture one of my classes made using their rubber stamps.
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I have tons of the soft carve stamp material. But I haven’t used lino cutters with elementary kids. Any tips on keeping the kids safe and setting up?
Thanks!
I would probably use it only with grades 5 and up, but that’s my comfort level. Demonstrate how to make sure that you only carve in front of your other hand, carving away from your body. I constantly observe the kids as they start cutting and make sure they are all holding the tools properly and continually remind them to carve away from their other hand. We have had a few cuts, but nothing serious. As for set up, I show the kids how to change out the nibs to other sizes and I let them come up and change out nibs as they need to. When it’s time to print, they just carefully pour out a small amount of acrylic paint onto newspaper. Then, they dip their foam brush into the paint and paint it on the stamp. I show them how to be careful not to get their hands too dirty while holding the stamp, and to wash their hands often if they get paint on their fingers to avoid smudging their papers. If they use multiple colors, they either need to get a new brush or wash the other one really really well. Luckily the foam brushes are pretty cheap. At the end of the class, I sometimes will just have them throw all their stamps and brushes in the sink and have one volunteer wash everything, or I will just wash it all.
Thanks Marcia, this sounds pretty much like I thought for printing and cutting.
I don’t have acrylic paint, but in the past if they stamps are small I have used markers. We used ink on our collograph prints last month it worked well for that. Maybe I’ll experiment?
Thanks!