Laminate Scrap Monoprints

I love the laminator. It comes in so handy when preserving sample artwork, bulletin board elements, etc. for future use. But every time I laminated something, I found myself wishing there was a way to save those scraps of laminate from the trash can. I started stashing the bigger pieces until I could find a way to use them. It turns out that laminate scraps make a great matrix for monoprints!

My older students (4th grade) made monoprints in one class period. I explained that usually printmaking can yield several identical prints, a MONOprint means "one" print and. We rolled a piece of tape to hold the laminate down on the table to make painting and printing easier. We used tempera paint and it does dry rather quickly so painting fast enough was the biggest challenge for the students. To print, we flipped drawing paper over on top of the wet paint and rubbed gently with our fingers. I didn't have a template for making prints even since the laminate scraps were not all the same size, so we just chopped the dry prints on the paper cutter to even up the borders.

I gave my first class of 2nd grade students the chance to draw a plan on paper first, slide the paper underneath the laminate scrap for a guide, then paint. Problem: this confused the students and several painted on the paper instead of the laminate or printed on the ancient copy paper instead of the nicer drawing paper. After the first class, the students painted directly on the laminate scrap instead of drawing first. If the students messed up, they could wipe it off and start again. 

When I saw the dried monoprints made by 2nd grade students, some were, well, hard to define. To remedy this, students trimmed and mounted their monoprints on black construction paper, used color sticks to create lines, shapes, and patterns in the border, and then touched up their prints by filling in gaps with color.

When I was student teaching, my mentor teacher taught a lesson where students created pictures by fusing tissue paper pieces on top of laminate scraps with modpodge. The tissue paper peeled right off when finished and looked awesome hanging on windows. Do you have a clever way to reuse laminate scraps?