Monoprinting – art activity

I love doing art activities even though I am not really talented in this department, even my child who still has very rich and unspoiled imagination, has problems identify if I am drawing a camel or a bird, but I am loving the journey I am on with Teddy letting him explore and experience all the different techniques. I think I first introduced an art activity when he was 5 months old sitting comfortably and unaided and I let him explore homemade edible paint I made from yogurt and food colouring. Back then it was not much about art but rather about sensory experience which I believe is very important.

Children especially the little ones learn about the word through their senses, by touching different textures, smelling, tasting but also by movement, sight and hearing and by allowing them to explore sensory activities they can play and investigate the world around them bit deeper.

Since then we have been adding different types of art activities, we tried various types of paint and explored different techniques. Teddy has his art area which I constantly update to keep it stimulating and inviting to explore (Currently his shelf holds water colour paints, cutting and sticking, stamps and play dough) and we also do loooooads of painting almost daily. If you follow us on Facebook you might have seen some of them on videos and I promise to get them all together on the blog for you very soon!

Today we did some mono printing which is great and a fun activity which lets your child to experience few different methods at once and what’s best is that even little children can do it and achieve a spectacular result.

As a base, we use a smooth tile which we had left after refurbishing our bathroom. You can use anything else though a smooth chopping board, place mat or even laminated piece of paper. I found the tile works best for us, it’s very sturdy, large and easily washable with a cloth.

First part of the process is to let your little one paint it and you can use a brush, sponge, roller or even your hands. The possibilities are limitless. Each tool makes a different patter so why not try all of them! Teddy absolutely loves this bit and spend most of his time on it. Even though we do not need the whole tile covered with paint he is rather thorough and usually makes sure there is not even a tiny bit left unpainted. It also makes a difference from painting paper as the tile does not absorb the paint and lets him paint the whole thing smoothly without reapplying much paint.

PSX_20170522_202121_wm — Teddy loves making a rainbow design or draw the waves

Making sure the whole tile is covered in paint

When the tile/mat is painted let your child to draw a picture with their finger or if your little ones are like Teddy who sometimes does not like to get his hands dirty you can use a stick, cotton bud or again pretty much anything you can think of. Today I just put a little bit of cotton wool on top of a wooden skewer.

PSX_20170522_202050_wm — He said this was a man swimming in the sea

PSX_20170522_202003_wm — An octopus (he decides on colours and designs himself)

PSX_20170522_201826_wm — A bird – he drew it upside down for some reason

PSX_20170522_201726_wm — And this will be an giant squid – he drew it with his finger

When they are done with drawing, place a paper on top and smooth it with your hand to create a print. They are usually lovely as they are but you can make it more interesting by wiping your tile and painting it again with a different colour and printing it over the top. We love to try bit of both!