Getting our printing groove on with Gelli Plates! Image heavy!

I was able to purchase six Gelli plates this year, and I was super excited to try them. My third graders were learning about organic shapes and texture, so this was the perfect way to play and explore.

Step one:
This video: making-foam-texture-plates-for-gelli. The kids loved it! I did not have to redirect at all.

We created texture plates exploring texture with organic shapes. We used up a ton of donated craft foam on salvaged cardboard. So, basically, free. Lots of glue. Lots.

My concern: only six Gelli plates with 20 kids.
I wanted each kid to have enough time to pull three successful prints.

So...six kids printing per class period.

Hmmm. This was going to take awhile. What to do with the rest of the class?

Answer: textural weavings! Another way to play with texture. All students were happily engaged and successfully finished both projects around the same time frame (about 6 rotations total)

They love it, and it took very little instruction. Keeps them happily engaged while I am working with the small group.

 Time to print! I have six kids at the back table while the rest worked on their weavings.
 I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

The very first print...

YEAH!

I let the kids create their own palettes, using the color wheel,  of course...

End result: the kids LOVED this. They were very successful and engaged, for many weeks.
I loved it because we knocked out two major projects at one time.

After the kids pulled three successful prints, they embellished with metallic markers.
This was a huge hit. The kids really liked how it emphasized their shapes.

 Then they mounted their final three and wired the three together for display.

Love!!!