Ocean Inspired Monoprints

 

Last week I bought a new set of paints, and ever since my boys saw them, they have been begging to paint! Yesterday I finally granted their wish and we made some monoprints. Mono printing is something I did in college when I had to take an “Art for Teachers” class. Seriously, one of the best classes I took! We’ve done something similar before (Rainy day art prints), but this time we used our Crayola washable paints versus the watercolors. 

To start I just plopped some oceanic colors onto a cookie tray. 

 

 

At this point you can use a brayer to smooth the paint over the tray, but that just isn’t in my home art kit, so we used our hands! I think my son liked this better anyways 🙂

 

 

He even got his nails into the process!

 

 

When he felt good and done with his smearing and designs, we put a white paper on top of the ink and smoothed it down. NOTE: Since his hands still had paint all over them, we ended up making handprint art on the reverse! It’s a double sided win 🙂

 

 

When we flipped the paper over we had gorgeous art that reminded us of beach waves! My son went right into the paint to make our next print! He was addicted!

 

 

I really like using these Crayola Paints because the colors are vibrant and the paint is thick enough to give some hint of texture in the art (plus, they are all washable- a necessity when working with kids!)

And there you have it- super simple art that evokes memories of crashing ocean waves! It’s simple enough for a toddler to make, but still interesting enough for older kids to enjoy as well!