Ideas to Try
1. Give the children the opportunity to study patterns/detailed markings preferably on real fish or alternatively in photographs. Provide them with a variety of tools/materials to draw the markings they have observed, for example fine line pens, charcoal, felt pens, brush and ink. Encourage them to explore the potential to build up patterns and texture by using lines of different widths, closely or widely spaced.
2. Lino-cutting tools can be difficult and dangerous for young children to use. Instead, let them incise a design into a polystyrene tile using a thin, sharpened stick or an old biro. Show the children how to roll inks or block printing paint on to the tile, when their design is finished. They should then place a sheet of paper carefully over the tile and transfer the design on to the paper using a clean roller.
3. Alternatively, give the children the opportunity to build up a printing block by gluing string or other materials to thick card. Advise them to try coiling the string or laying it in close strips to achieve different textures and to experiment similarly with other materials they may choose to use. When finished, the block can be used to produce a print in the manner described above.
