Aquariums

Today second graders began a project in which the concept of printmaking was introduced. We began by painting in a background with colorful, glittery paint (which they went CRAZY for!).

Styrofoam was handed out and students worked on drawing four different ideas to press into their styrofoam for next week.

This week students worked on choosing two fish designs from what they drew last week. They traced/pressed them onto their styrofoam squares.

The printmaking came next. We used markers to create prints. Students colored in their fish, sprayed water on a square of paper and pressed the paper on top of their fish to make a print. There were many varying degrees of success with the kids. Overall, they were a bit frustrated. I showed them the "bad" prints that I"d made and told them we'd keep working on them. This is a project that is more about the process then the product!

This week students worked on creating the inside of their aquariums. I love the variety in what they created!

Second graders finished up their aquariums today. They worked on making new prints of fish if needed, cut out and glued on their fish and added final touches to their aquarium.

These sure turned out creative and while this project was frustrating to some, it was a good introduction to printmaking. I think they did a great job!