Mercury Theatre and Essex County Council Training – Artstart

Printmaking in a tiny little pre-school nursery in Basildon introduced the children to the joys of paint. I used very large pieces of Perspex, giving the children the opportunity to spread the paint with brushes to start with, but then with their hands. The colour was secondary to the actual slippery feel of the paint; this was followed by the sound it makes when squeezing it; the patterns, which appeared on the Perspex and also onto paper when printed.

This little girl discovered, without being told, that if you have paint on your hands and press them onto paper, that you can make handprints. She was thrilled.