Easy Marbling

We are currently doing a project on Space in school and I found this idea through Pinterest and have been dying to try it out. (Original website) This morning I was working with Primary 1 (5 year olds - all 3 of them!) and we made planets. The idea is they have designed planets that they will name and write about.



First you cover a surface in shaving foam (not gel), I used a sand tray lid. The children chose paint colours and we drizzled the liquid paint over the surface of the foam. Then using the 'wrong' end of paintbrushes we wrote letters in the paint to swirl the colours (before I hit on this idea they were mixing which didn't have such a good effect).

Paint tray ready to print

The paper was pre-cut into circles and they took turns choosing where to put their planet and take a print by pressing down on the back of the paper. (Write names on the back of the paper before starting!) Next, they lifted the paper and placed it on a newspapered table.

Paper before scraping off the foam

It looks good at this point but the next bit is the real 'WOW!' bit. Scrape the foam off the paper, we used stiff card but next time I will use scrapers cut from plastic milk bottles. What you get is a marbled effect without expensive inks - very impressive. It is also very easy to clean up and leaves you with an interesting smell ... "This room smells like my dad!"

The finished picture

The last three photos show the progress of one picture on a rectangular piece of paper done after the planets.