Pointillism is a painting technique developed by the artist George Seurat. It involves using small, painted dots to create areas of color that together form a pattern or picture. It's a fun technique for children to try, especially because it's easy to do, and requires just a few simple materials.
These bookmarks provide a first pointillism project that's just the right size — as starting with small surfaces can help to make a new art technique less daunting for children.
You Will Need
- Lightweight white card paper or construction paper
- Scissors
- Colored stamp pads – or try this homemade version
- Pencils with round eraser tops
- Damp cloth
- Laminator and laminating sheets or clear contact paper book covering (optional)
What to Do
Step 1: Cut your cardboard into strips to form bookmarks.
Step 2: Have your child choose a color and press the eraser end of the pencil onto the stamp pad and then onto the bookmark to stamp small dots of color. She can experiment with creating simple blocks of color and different shapes.
As your child works, you might like to suggest that she explore the pointillism technique by experimenting with:
- Spacing the dots closer together and further apart, and noticing the impact this has on the color.
- Stamping in organized rows of dots versus a more random arrangement of dots.
- Using blocks of one color versus creating multicolored blocks of color.
Clean the pencil end by wiping it with the damp cloth between colors.
Encourage your child to attempt to cover the entire surface of the bookmark, to make it bright and colorful.
Step 3: Allow the bookmark to dry. Laminate or cover the painted bookmarks with clear contact paper for durability.
Activity Extension Ideas
If your children enjoys this activity, you might like to take it further by:
- Experimenting with mixing two primary colors (red, blue, yellow) by stamping with one color and then adding dots of a second color to fill in the white spaces. For example, stamp first with blue and then with yellow to create some green. Dots may overlap.
- Try making tiny pointillism inspired paintings with Q-tips and acrylic paint onto small pieces of paper or card stock.
- Go large by creating a pointillism art piece on a large sheet of paper using dot stamp markers to make your marks.