Print it!

Printmaking – the process of transferring an image from an object to paper – is one of the most exciting areas of Creative Development at the Foundation Stage.

Making prints using found objects can be surprising and rewarding: the unique patterns of objects such as leaves and vegetables are often overlooked until they are inked up and pressed on to paper to make prints.

Printmaking offers children exciting opportunities to experiment with colour and shape, and they will enjoy the range of results that can be achieved with even the simplest of resources.

Printmaking processes encourage children to broaden the range of the marks they make, marks that are often distinct from those made in their drawings or paintings.

A successful print is usually a combination of the intentional and the unintentional: when we make a print we have only a limited amount of control over the way that ink is transferred to paper and the resulting marks can surprise us. Sometimes the accidental and unexpected marks turn out to be those that are most essential to the artwork.