Styrofoam Plate Printmaking

Here is a lesson for a series of classes on printmaking and collage. We used 6x9 inch styrofoam plates and created simple geometric designs. I explained that the lines that they drew on the plate would be the white areas of their print, and the places they left blank would print the ink color. I shared a book of Native American designs and set out various round lids to trace if they liked. They drew out their designs in ball point pen. Then the children pressed their lines deep into the styrofoam again with the pen, a wood stylus, or a popsicle stick. I told them to feel the surface of the foam to see whether they had pressed deeply enough to create the valleys necessary to print a crisp image. We then used water-based printmaking ink and printed on white and colored paper to see the various effects on the printed image.