Age group: kindergarten – middle primary
Come together in this fun session with your child and learn about the joys of getting their hands dirty with paint or ink. The joy of making marks in wet paint and then layering up the colours.
What you will need to create:
- Roller, soft rubber
- Inking tray
- Styrofoam sheets (recycled meat trays work well)
- Sharp pencil / ball point pen
- Water-soluble block printing ink
- Coloured + white printing card
- Watercolour paint cakes
- Water
- Sharpie marker
- Googly eyes
- Scissors
- Paintbrush
- Newspaper
- Baby wipes (These really help with this activity as the ink is super-messy.)
Let’s play. Step-by-step instructions
Creative prep
- Using a black marker, draw the outline of your fish on the styrofoam.
Design your fish
- Allow the child to then draw into the styrofoam with a pencil, adding scales, fins and patterns. Pressing firmly, but not going all the way through. Keep it bold and big!
Ink it up
- Squeeze a small amount of printing ink onto your tray.
- Use the brayer to roll out the ink until it’s smooth and tacky.
- Roll the ink evenly over your styrofoam fish. Make sure the whole surface is covered, but not too thick!
Make your print
- Carefully lay a piece of paper over the inked fish.
- Press down gently and evenly, smoothing with your hands or the back of a spoon.
- Slowly peel the paper back to reveal your fish print!
Let it dry
- Place the print on a flat surface to dry completely before moving on.
Add watercolour magic
- Once dry, use watercolours to add further colour to your fish! Add splashes of ocean colour or rainbow scales.
- Experiment with light washes or bold,
bright colours. - Let your masterpiece dry again.
Cut and display
- Cut around the edges of your painted fish prints. Removing the background.
- Mount them on a blue background, create an underwater scene, or hang them up swimming in a classroom shoal!
