I have recently gotten a substantial grant to buy art supplies. I have been debating on what to buy with this money. One thing I would love to buy are printmaking supplies for the upper elementary students. Now I know the easiest thing to do is to just make prints with Styrofoam, but I would love to do something more complex with my 4th and 5th grade students. When I taught middle school, I used EZ cut printmaking blocks. I thought this was rather easy and had no problem with it. What does everyone think about doing real printmaking with sharp gouges with upper elementary students? Is it too dangerous for them? I would love everyone's opinion.
The pictures I put on this post are printmaking examples from my middle school students from several years ago.
I have recently gotten a substantial grant to buy art supplies. I have been debating on what to buy with this money. One thing I would love to buy are printmaking supplies for the upper elementary students. Now I know the easiest thing to do is to just make prints with Styrofoam, but I would love to do something more complex with my 4th and 5th grade students. When I taught middle school, I used EZ cut printmaking blocks. I thought this was rather easy and had no problem with it. What does everyone think about doing real printmaking with sharp gouges with upper elementary students? Is it too dangerous for them? I would love everyone's opinion.
The pictures I put on this post are printmaking examples from my middle school students from several years ago.
I have stayed away from that for safety reasons, too. I'm anxious to know, however, if it works. So, if you do try it, let us know.
ReplyDeleteI've used easy cut with 4th 5th and 6th grade students with good results--no accidents. A bench hook helps to keep fingers out of the way, but we didn't have them. You could make gouges by removing the eraser from an regular yellow pencil and then shape the cutter by squashing the metal a bit. Not as sharp as a blade, just in case it slips.
ReplyDeleteI think it could work. I would do it with my older students, if I could afford it. We used linoleum with 7th grade, so EZ cut seems like it wouldn't be too hard for older elementary.
ReplyDeleteWhy not just buy them a small etching press of some sort.
ReplyDeleteI've used EZ cut with 5th and 6th graders with great results. I made a "safety quiz" with fill in the blank answers that they had to get 100% on to get a cutter. It was easy, but made them think about what they were doing. I agree that bench hooks help a lot.
ReplyDeleteI've used EZ cut too (w/6th grade), and used to use linoleum but it is so much tougher to manage. I always use bench hooks. I also use the V gouges when we carve sheet rock. I use utility knives or Exacto knives with my 6th graders too.
ReplyDeleteYou could also do printmaking with relief - cutting/glueing cardboard shapes, string, etc, and then rolling ink on to print, or do monoprinting right on your tables, with no cutting!
Thanks for all the advice everyone! I still have no idea whether I want to have them do printmaking or not. The adventurous side of me says "Go for it", but the safety side of me says "I am crazy." I will just have to ponder this one a little more.
ReplyDeleteI think you can do it! If you make a big deal about how these are "middle school" level materials I've found the kids are always extra careful and responsible to prove that they are as smart/capable as the "older kids." Most sets of carving tools come with 4 or 5 blades. If you use the wider, higher number blades then it is pretty hard to hurt yourself. Year in and out the only kids that nick themselves are my 8th graders because they think they are too smart to have to pay attention. And really, if a kid does nick themselves its not much worse then a paper cut. Get the ez cut, chop a block down into little practice pieces and tell the kids that after you see they can safely use the materials that they will get their big ez cut.
ReplyDeleteI have faith it can work! Good luck.
I have used EZ cut with 4th - 8th grades for six years now. The students love it and the results are wonderful. I do use smaller blocks for the 4th and 5th graders. I always start with a demonstration and stress SAFETY, especially keeping their fingers behind the cutters while they are cutting out the block. Good Luck and happy printing.
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ReplyDeleteI used linoleum with 4th grade last year - it wasn't what I expected when I ordered it but we used it it was tougher than EZcut - and we went through a lot of band aids. Here is a link to student work on artsonia:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=273178
I just kept stressing how they had to keep their hands BEHIND the blade at all times. we did a lot of review of how to use the cutters and how to work with them each time they came to class. I think whatever we teach and we think the kids can do, they can! GO FOR IT!
I have used EZ cut with 4th and 5th graders. We talked about safety and I give frequent reminders to carve AWAY from body and hands. I told them if I repeatedly caught them carving towards hands, they would not be able to finish the project with the tools. The students loved printmaking so much that they made sure they had no accidents. Do it...they will love it!
ReplyDeletePersonally I would not try it. As a parent I would be highly upset if my child was injured doing an art project at school. Maybe you should get parents approval first and perhaps the principals too.
ReplyDeleteI did a printmaking unit with my seventh grade art students last year. We had good results using a bar of ivory soap for our printing medium. I had them bring in vegetable peelers from home to use as a gouge. They really enjoyed this project. The best part was, the room smelled so clean with all those soap shavings!
ReplyDeleteI am a K-5 art teacher and I plan on doing printmaking with the EZ blocks with my 5th graders. My first year teaching I was in a K-8 school and used the EZ blocks with 5th through 8th grade. I think it all depends on your students and how you present the safely and expectations for use of the materials. I have seen a LOT of art teachers do this project with 5th graders. Also, I really love 'apples and oranges' advice about telling them they are middle school materials but you think they are mature enough to handle them.
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