4th- Japanese Castles

4th Grade: Japanese Castle Printmaking

4th graders explored a brief history of castles in Japan. We looked at photos and discussed the purposes of the castles. Castles were made for protection. They were located many times near rivers and trade routes. They were built on a stone foundation, which was very high. The castles themselves were many levels high. We studied the unique architecture of these amazing buildings. Many castles had balconies, many windows and trapizoid shaped roofs. 

Students drew their own castle, inspired by the Japanese ones they had just saw. Students had to create a stone foundation and make their castle at least 3 levels high. I had photocopies of various castles as references. Students were encouraged to use their creativity with this. Students drew their design onto a 6 x 9 piece of scratch foam. These are sold pre-cut by School Specialty and are a great value. They put their design into the foam with a "papermate red pen". Ballpoint pens work really great I have found in scratch foam. I told students to press hard so there are grooves in the foam. Students got the idea pretty well. Mistakes can't be erased, but I tell students to create a mistake into something. When finished this step (and approved by me), students trace their castle onto a new white cardstock (6 x 9) at the window with black sharpie. This gives them a mirror image of the castle. Students color with the black sharpie to this new castle to create contrast.  Next day, students paint over the foam castle with red tempera paint with foam brushes (I've always used tempera instead of the printing ink, because it saves a bundle!). I think they come out very nice. Students also created their own original initials stamp (seen in the pictures below). I printed these after class, as these were harder to print, since they were small. Students glued all the pieces together on a 12 x 18 black colored paper. (I also had a dragon stamp, that was used in this art as well..a nice final touch) I found this stamp at Hobby Lobby years ago, and find uses for it all the time! This project was one of the messiest by far, but the results are well worth it. We had a "printing table" that was completely red after every 4th grade class for a couple weeks, but thankfully tempera paint is washable!

Great job 4th grade! I love the creativity demonstrated.