We love a good process art activity. And now that we’ve made some Baking Sheet & Muffin Tin Print process art, I’m pretty sure that we will never turn back! These two similar (yet completely different) printing activities are incredibly fun…and we’re almost certain that you and your kiddos will love them just as much as we do.
I mean, you can never go wrong with a process art activity! And if youβre not familiar with the terminology β process art places the emphasis on the actual process of creating, as opposed to the finished product. When children are allowed the freedom of self-expression, through an open-ended art project, they become more relaxed and focused. The simple process of creating boosts self-esteem and emotional sharing. It magically provides a fail-proof way for children to express themselves!
Baking Sheet & Muffin Tin Prints
Supplies:
- Baking Sheet (or flat-bottomed pan/tray)
- Muffin Tin
- Paint (We used Sargent Art Time Tempera Paint – including this fun metallic gold!)
- Paintbrushes
- White Card Stock
- Q-Tips (optional)
Baking Sheet Prints
I came across the brilliant idea for creating baking sheet prints on one of my all-time favorite Instagram accounts – @friendsartlab! Kristian shares some of the most epic, amazing, creative, and incredibly fun art ideas! She pretty much makes me want to go back to preschool every single day. And if you’re not already following her on Instagram…you might want to take a minute to seriously consider exactly what you’re doing with your life. π
Anyways, back in February, Kristian shared a little video of her college students making baking sheet prints (yes…she teaches preschool and college classes). I had never dreamed of using our baking sheets in such a way – but the idea was seriously so simple. And I immediately knew that our little nugget would fall in love with this hands-on printing process!
So…all you need to do is grab a baking sheet (or any non-porous flat surface), paint, paintbrush, and paper. Start by painting the backside of the baking sheet – in whatever colors your heart desires. We found that our prints worked the best when we covered the entire surface of the baking sheet with a good coat of paint (or at least the entire area that the sheet of paper was going to cover).
Once you’re satisfied with the paint, it’s time to create some designs! It’s a lot of fun to slide your fingers around in the paint, but if you’re not keen on getting your hands dirty, you can use Q-tips to create your designs too. Just make sure to press hard enough, so that you can see the actual baking sheet underneath each of your designs.
Now, it’s time to make a print! Grab a sheet of white card stock and lay it on top of the painted (and designed) baking sheet. Gently massage the paper, but make sure not to slide it around (otherwise, your designs will get smeared). Go ahead and lift the paper up to reveal your beautiful print! Our little nugget never tires of doing a big reveal. π It’s always so much fun to lift up the card stock to see all of the vibrant colors and designs that transferred over!
Once finished, set your painting aside to dry. Odds are pretty good that your little ones will request to make some more prints, so just rinse and dry the baking sheet and start back at the beginning!
Muffin Tin Prints
I’ve seen numerous Instagram accounts sharing this awesome muffin tin print process art activity. The fabulous idea actually originates from the amazing Bar Rucci, of the Art Bar Blog! In fact, muffin tin print art is just one of more than 25 fantastic process art activities that Barbara shares in her incredible book, Art Workshop for Children! I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this amazing book – it comes in super handy on those days when you happen to be in a creative funk, but still need to entertain your kids. π
Since baking sheets and muffin tins go hand-in-hand, I figured we would just do both of these activities in one day! We already had our paint, paintbrushes, and card stock out…we just needed to switch over to our muffin tin. I also decided to cut our card stock into smaller pieces, so that it would be easier to do one muffin tin print at a time.
So…when you’re ready, flip your muffin tin upside down and start painting! Use your paintbrush to add various colors of paint to the muffin tin sections – we found that we had the best results if we worked with one section at a time. Once you’re satisfied with your paint, grab a sheet of white card stock, and lay it on top of the painted muffin tin section. Massage gently, making sure not to slide the card stock around too much…although a little bit of smearing can turn out pretty cool too!
When one print is complete, set it aside to dry. And then move on to the next muffin tin section…repeating until you’ve made a print from each one!
While we thoroughly enjoyed making our baking sheet prints, there was just something so much more magical and addicting about these muffin tin prints. Perhaps it was because the prints were smaller and much quicker to create…or maybe it was the fact that we were able to make 12 vastly different prints with the use of one muffin tin. Whatever the reason…we simply could not get enough of this wonderful process art activity! We rinsed and dried the backside of our muffin tin a few different times…and just kept right on painting and printing all afternoon. π
We had an absolute blast with these incredibly fun process art activities and I’m 100% sure that there will be more baking sheet and muffin tin prints in our future. That being said, make sure to check back this Thursday…to see what we did with all of our colorful muffin tin prints…you won’t want to miss it!
For more fun process art ideas, check out our Plastic Wrap Painting – Process Art, our Fourth of July Blow Painting Process Art, and our Spin Art posts!
