What can you use for making prints?

Is it too early for making Christmas wrapping paper?

These are a few questions you probably woke up with this morning with at the front of your mind ;) and if you didn’t, they’re there now! 

We have a few non-dairy milk drinkers in our house and this means some extra tetra paks that are hard to recycle and call for us to be a bit creative with at times. 

They are great for crafts, potting seedlings and can also be good for a bit of printing or painting. 

There’s no need for making wrapping paper really, but if you like to, this is an enjoyable way to go about it. 

There’s lots of sensory feedback in this activity -  pushing the pen or pencil into the inside of the milk carton when drawing and then pressing the pieces into the ink and onto the paper. There’s also some good use of fine motor skills in the picking up of the pieces and using scissors if your child is able to.

It also has the added benefit of having a little joyful surprise to see what your print looks like when you peel off the foil cutout.

This is a simple one in terms of supplies. 

• Tetra pak

• Ink or paint

• Scissors

• Pen and paper

First off, all the tetra paks probably need a wash out, this can be some water play at the outside tap or kitchen sink. Then open up the tetra pak and dry in the sun. You can play around with the reflection the foil makes in the light.

Now, more fun. Spend some time drawing together and press your images in with a pen or pencil. Making patterns or images, or simply enjoy pressing your pen into the foil - you can’t go wrong.

After you’ve made some impressions you can cut your pieces out and get ready to ink them up.

You can either print up the pieces on an ink pad or cover them with paints and a brush.

After you have printed your pieces, shapes or patterns you might like to continue to work on your art piece or wrapping paper, by adding some pencil or coloured paints.

You’ll have some beautiful artworks or maybe even some wrapping paper, Enjoy!