Toddler Art Class: Printing Circles

There are so many things that make a circle....

Art Project: Printing Circles
Supplies:
cardboard tubes
lids (from milk jugs, drink bottles, canning jars, etc, etc)
marker caps (from dried out markers--save the caps! use the cores to make liquid watercolors !)
paint
paper plates
(other ideas for circles:  plastic easter eggs, empty & washed medicine bottles?, film canisters if you have a stash of those still leftover.... look around your supply cupboard and I'm guessing you'll find some circles.)

Book:
   Press here / Tullet, Herve

Music to make art by:  

Turn turn turn [sound recording] / Zanes, Dan

 What Kids Do:  Print circles of all sizes:

 (some of our lids had foam shapes glued to the top sides from a past project, so the kids used those as stamps too)

 Swiping the lid around as a "paintbrush":

 Pushing paint around with the side of a marker lid makes a nice swath of color:

 Rolling tubes in paint makes a nice effect:

 As does just smashing the tubes flat to see what shape it prints:

 Or.... just painting the entire page yellow!

 There were some fun "engineering" experiments with putting tubes in tubes:

 And I was pleased to see some experimental printing ideas using the wet-wipes I provided for clean-up!

 One of the older siblings did a symmetry print that turned out lovely as well.

Hindsight Tip:  as usual with paint, it's a good idea to provide wipes (or a damp towel) for clean-up, extra smocks just in case, and maybe also paper towels.  I also made sure there were at least 2 paper plates with paint on each table (for 5 kids), but maybe could have used more.

 Variations to try: 

--If you're doing this project at home, extend the learning by asking kids to look around their house for other circles they could use to make prints.  Or try printing other shapes!

Adult Challenge:  Big hands off the art!  Unless the child invites you specifically to add a mark to their page (as with the wet-wipe printing above), please don't alter their artwork in any way.  It sends a message that you don't think they can do it on their own (remember--there's no wrong way to do this!) or that you think their art needs improvement (no one's grading the results!).  Instead, if you can't resist the project, make your own art piece.  Just try to avoid a situation in which the child starts to compare their artwork to yours and gets frustrated that theirs doesn't "look right."