Sponge Print Poinsettias

Here is a great December art project to do with any primary class.  There are many versions of this project on Pinterest and art blogs.  Here are some of the final products done by my Grade One class.

This project does require a bit of prep work but it is absolutely worth it. 

Prep: You will need to buy a couple of packages of sponges and then cut them into petal shapes for the poinsettias (the sponges can be reused in the spring for other plant and flower art projects!).  I cut enough so that each child would have their own.  You do not have to worry about them looking 'perfect' as the kids will often use their entire hand to press the sponge to the paper and they create their own organic shape.

Directions:

1. Have the students draw 2 yellow dots on their paper.  I got them to put their left hand on the top left corner, point their thumb to the right, and draw the dot sitting on their thumb.  Then they put their right hand on the bottom right hand corner and drew the dot touching their thumb (not sticking out this time).  I did this to try to space the poinsettias far enough apart that they wouldn't overlap too much (a little is great) but not put them too far apart that too much of the flower is off the paper.

2. Students used a paintbrush to paint the red paint onto their sponge.  Using the yellow dots as a guide they pressed the sponge onto their papers so that each petal was radiating from the dot.  They continued all the way around the dot, and some were able to get 2 prints from one paint application. 

3. Then they did the same to the other dot.

4. When they were done they had to wash their own sponge and do their best squeeze as much water out as possible.  They then repeated the same printmaking process with dark green paint to add leaves around their poinsettias.  Then were then left to dry.

5. The next day we used a light green oil pastel to draw veins and texture onto the leaves and coloured around the poinsettia flowers.

6. The final touch was adding yellow or gold dots of glitter glue to the center of each flower.