Kids Bookfest 2010: Make Your Own Stamp

On Saturday the Family Reading Partnership hosted its annual Kids Book Fest, a wonderful event that features music, crafts and activities for young readers. My own children enjoyed the festival when they were little but have since outgrown it, which means that for several years, I didn't have an excuse to attend. So this year I felt very fortunate to be able to participate as a volunteer. I gave away over forty books and helped kids stamp designs onto paper. Instructions for making stamps like the ones I used are given below. Thanks to all the hard working organizers who made this event possible!



Make Your Own Stamp

Ages 6 and up; click here for PDF

You will need:

• craft foam (get the kind with a sticky back, if you can)

• glue if your foam doesn’t have a sticky back

• pencil

• scissors

• Tempura paint or ink

• foam paint brushes

• small plastic containers

• paper

• newspaper to contain spills

*for the image shown, I used Speedball water-based block printing inks purchased from Dick Blick. These inks are non-toxic and available in a wide variety of colors.

Making Your Stamp
Draw the shape you want to stamp onto a piece of foam. Stray lines don’t matter, but you might want to make a practice design on paper first, and keep it simple: intricate designs are tricky to cut. Once you’ve finished drawing your design, cut it out. Remove the adhesive back of the craft foam, and stick it down to a second piece of foam (use glue if your foam doesn’t have an adhesive backing). Leaving the adhesive backing in place, cut the second piece of foam around the design you’ve just made.

note:  You might want to make a different stamp for each color you use. For example, if you want the center of a flower to be a different color than the petals, make one stamp for the petals and another for the center. (in the lower photograph, the small dot in the middle is the center of the flower on the upper left).

Using Your Stamp
Pour the Tempura paint or ink into plastic containers. If you use ink, dilute it with a little water so that it brushes easily onto the stamp. Using a foam brush, paint the ink onto the raised part of the stamp (try not to get any ink onto the bottom part- an adult may need to do this for younger children). Now, turn the stamp upside down and press it firmly onto a piece of paper. Experiment as necessary to get the paint thickness right.