Stamping Stamping and More Stamping

I've been coming up with new art ideas for Isaac. I don't always like to just give him a brush and paints. I like to teach him new techniques and show him that he isn't boxed in just because he doesn't have the typical art supplies. So... we started with paper towel rolls. He loved that.

Then it got closer to Thanksgiving and I thought it was only appropriate for us to make handprint turkeys. However, why just use crayons to color them in? No way. Booooriiiiing! So out comes the paints and what? Pompoms!! 

Then....

Isaac was bored. I was bored. I went downstairs to go through my art drawers in my studio to see what I could dig up. Lo and behold, I found a couple of old boxes of erasers that I was given while student teaching. These are perfect for making rubber stamps! Have you SEEN stamp prices? Yeah, I'll make my own, thanks. So I did.

You need three things:

• erasers
• Xacto knife
• imagination... or at least some kind of idea (or Google) if you're not the imaginative type.

I made a few shapes and patterns then I asked Isaac what he wanted. Of course he asked for a train so I carved out a train. I set him up with some tempera paint and paper and let him go to town. He stamped, drew, swirled and anything else he could have done with these easy homemade stamps and paint. We both had a blast and will be doing this more often.

I think my next stamp project will be to make the alphabet and work on letters, sounds and spelling.