The kids and I wanted to try out carving stamps. Stamping is such a fun craft! Instead of investing in expensive carving material, we bought a six pack of erasers from the dollar store. Or, for $10 bucks, you can get a pack of 36 of them! That makes it nice, because kids often like to ‘start over.’

Amazon also has a carving kit that comes with 12 pieces and gets great reviews. It’s a great price too! The best price I found for the quality.

Here’s how to make your own hand-carved eraser stamps:

First, have your children draw a few simple pictures on paper. Some ideas: leaves, animal shapes, hearts, stars, smiley faces, flowers, a sunshine, superhero symbols, etc. With a regular size eraser, you’re not going to have a lot of room for fine carving, so the fewer lines in your design, the better.

Have them choose their favorite design, and then draw it directly onto their eraser. (Use a pencil and you can correct mistakes.)

Then carefully carve around the lines of your picture to make a stamp. Keep in mind that everything you carve away won’t show up. Everything you leave uncarved will pick up ink and make your image.

We used the carving tools we had, and a couple of pocket knives. I instructed the kids on how to always stroke away from themselves and their fingers. And I never left them alone with the sharp tools. They were very careful and responsible once they knew what the dangers were.

Lastly, press your stamps on an ink pad and see how they turned out!

~ Arianne of Stillparenting

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