Father's Day Wood Print Art Activity

Father’s Day is coming up. If you’re looking for a crafty art activity for the kids to make for dad, this is one of my favorites. My son is a karate kid (so am I – we are both black belts!). So, we have an over-abundance of broken boards hanging around our house. If you don’t have a stack of half planks stacked under your couch, you can use a piece of scrap wood that’s et over from one of dad’s projects or get an inexpensive piece of pine at your local hardware store (ask the nice clerk with the bid electric saw to cut it for you).

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Now that you have your board (mine was roughly 6-inches by 6-inches), you’re ready to make a reverse wood-cut print. I adore wood-cut prints, but with a young child this technique isn’t practical. Instead of having your little one cut into the wood, he can build up on top of it to create a stamper that he’ll use with paint. As a bonus, you can wipe the paint off and reuse it. Create a “Dad” sign or use the stamper to print Father’s Day cards. You can also try this project when making other types (i.e., non-Father’s Day) art.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·         A piece of wood (pine works well)

·         Model Magic (you can also try modeling clay, but I found that the Model Magic sticks to the wood better)

·         Tempera paint

·         A paintbrush

·         Craft sticks

·         Paper

·         A marker

Here’s What You’ll Need to Do:

1.      Write the letters “DAD” on the board with a marker. Here’s the trick – the D’s have to be backwards (the A looks the same either way). When your child makes the print the letters will show up like a mirror image, so writing the word backwards makes the final product come out correctly. If he’s struggling to write the letters backwards, have your child write both D’s, leaving a space in between. Flip the board over (magic – they are backwards) and write an A in between.

2.      Have your child cover the letter lines with Model Magic. Make sure it’s raised off of the surface.

3.      Use a craft stick to create a pattern in the clay compound.

4.      Paint the letters with tempera. Don’t worry if your child gets paint on the wood. It’s not likely to show up in the print.

5.      Place a piece of paper on your work surface. Turn the painted wood stamper over and press it against the paper. Have your child pat it like a drum. He doesn’t need to squish the clay onto the paper.

6.      Pull the paper off of the wood stamper to reveal the print!