Most kids love using paint and they usually don’t mind getting a little paint on them along the way, which makes this pineapple fingerprint art project great for an afternoon art lesson.
This project combines the fun process of thumb painting and using printmaking to create a wonderful piece of art.
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When teaching this class, give children an example of something, along with step-by-step instructions on how to do it, then let them add to it and be creative.
This gives them a foundation for the lesson so they know how to do it correctly, of course if they choose to follow the instructions, but then they can still come up with their own ideas.
Younger children may need a parent or adult to help them with this process but they enjoy it. By 5th grade they will make one and then just want to draw it themselves.
If you are teaching a lot of children, I recommend focusing primarily on elementary age.
This lesson doesn’t require a lot of supplies and is generally pretty easy to learn, so if you’re having a stressful week, take this lesson to lighten the load.
Pineapple Fingerprint Art for Kids
What you will need:
- acrylic paint yellow, green, orange… Just choose the cheap brands, they are fine.
- craft paper or mixed paper.
- palette or paper plate
- Paintbrushes come in different sizes. Thinner brushes are good for small details like adding eyes to something, but they also require wider brushes.
- tissues and/or hand towels.
- Disposable tablecloths are easy to clean.
- Cup of water.
Step by step guide
If possible, make your own examples to show your child, one yellow example and one mixed color example.
For the pineapple, I showed them how to draw the thumb by hand so they knew exactly what I meant about creating the shape they needed, and I just used a piece of paper to show how to “stamp” the thumb print down.
Ask them to rotate the paper vertically so that there is enough room for the entire sheet of paper to fit in the surrounding space.
Explain at the beginning that your child will have time to try out other fingerprints or handprints so they just need to use the same thumb for each imprint, so it looks like a real pineapple.
I gave my students the option of either using a yellow base coat for the fruit, then adding a layer of orange on each stamp if they wanted, which would give the fruit depth, or using three paint colors and stamping them in a marbled pattern.
Show them some examples. If you don’t have time to do it yourself first, you can show them pictures here.
Create a Golden Pineapple
Using a flat square brush at least ½” in size, paint the thumb from top to knuckle yellow, making sure to brush off any excess paint.
If it is a block of paint, the print will not be visible. The paint needs to be smooth and thin, but not transparent, otherwise it will not be enough.
If you see someone having problems with the print not sticking to the paper, then they applied the paint too thinly.
Too thick will cause the print to be distorted, but it is still better than no print at all.
They need to start from the bottom of the pineapple so that when they stamp more prints, they don’t smudge the ones they’ve already printed. And I suggest they work horizontally, depending on which hand they use.
Right handed people will start from the left and work their way backwards, etc.
Then, make sure they leave enough room for the green top of the fruit, which they will paint last, before starting to stamp.
Create first row.
It is recommended to leave a small gap between prints, but some people prefer to place them right next to the next print, and the only difference is that it requires more prints and takes longer to complete.
The best way to make the pineapple look symmetrical is to stamp an odd number of stamps on each row and make the top and bottom rows smaller so the pineapple looks more round.
Then move on to the next one…
… and continue…
…until completion.
Once you reach the top row, you can continue painting the top green.
I used a medium sized brush in a dark green to build up my color, then added a few thin highlights in a lighter green.
Or they can choose to add a second layer of orange or coral, half the size of the yellow, painting just the bottom half of the thumb.
Make marble pineapple
Instead of painting your thumb like yellow, this works better by dipping your finger into the paint. You will need a large enough space on the plate to do this.
Take your brush and dip it into each color you want to use. Dip one color at a time, pouring the paint into one spot but not mixing it.
I used yellow, coral and turquoise.
You want some areas of paint to blend naturally, and they will blend as you work, but don’t mix the paint.
Let things happen naturally.
Then dip your thumb in the paint and stamp it onto the paper in the same way as the yellow.
These stamps will have a slightly sharper edge since you don’t need to wipe off the excess. They still look really cute.
You will have to change the paint as you go, if you put too much paint the print won’t come out, so just put a little paint at a time and then add more.
For the green part, I dipped my brush into the mixture and painted as it appeared on the brush. So it has green as the blend color, along with some streaks of turquoise.
For the rest of the lesson, let students choose what they want to do.
All pineapples will be delicious.
Children come up with great ideas.
Imagination has no limits.
You can do all sorts of amazing things with your fingers and hands as paintbrushes.
Layering different colors or using regular brushes to add details also looks great.
We like this result.
Create as many as you like.
It will look great in a variety of colors.
No need to stick with the “natural” kind.
Enjoy being creative!
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Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn