Strathcona Baptist Girls’ Grammar School Year 5 students created a screen print of a puffin onto fabric which could be framed or turned into a cushion.

The seed for this unit was planted during a trip to Iceland where I spent two hours in a bird hide observing these fascinating creatures.

Following this I researched their biology and habitats which I was able to share with my students, as well as accessing various short videos which built up an understanding of their development and life on land and at sea.

This unit involved all students from Four year olds through to Year six using a variety of materials. The Year fives brief was to screen print their puffin onto fabric which could be framed or turned into a cushion.

They drew their images from photographs taken from books and a calendar, working out how many colours they had used which determined how many stencils they had to cut. Their drawing was photocopied so that they had an image for each colour. The students worked out what order they wanted to print in and the care that was required in masking out around the outside of their stencil. Because of the drying time there were other projects concurrent to the puffins and it was up to the girls to work out where they were up to.

Materials

Class set of cutting mats
Art knives
Silk screens ( a number because of drying time )
Squeegee
Permaset printing ink
Plastic pockets

Susan Clarke
Art Teacher
Strathcona