Printmaking with foam

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 45 minutes

Read together

Printmaking makes many copies from one carved or drawn plate. A foam printing plate is soft enough to draw into with a pencil.

The lines you press in stay white. The raised parts take the ink. When you press the plate onto paper, the picture appears the other way round, like a mirror.

Artists number their prints, such as 1/5 and 2/5, to show how many they made.

Do it

1. Cut a flat piece of foam, from a clean food tray, about the size of your hand. Draw a simple picture with a pencil, pressing firmly. Write any words backwards.
2. Roll a thin layer of washable ink or paint on the plate with a roller or a brush.
3. Place a sheet of paper on the plate and rub the back evenly with your hand. Peel it off.
4. Print five copies and number them. Which is your best? Give one to someone with a thank-you note.

Talk about it

• Why did the picture come out reversed?
• What did you change after the first print?

For the grown-up

Foam printing is a safe, simple form of relief printmaking, a method used for centuries in woodcuts and linocuts. Keep the work area covered and use water-based inks.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), education resources on printmaking and relief printing
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, education resources on printmaking

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.