Watch our Intro!

By simply combining cardboard and paint, the Thinking with a Line program guides children through a process of discovery and creation, helping them learn about and understand their world. And it is all right here for free!

Unlocking Creativity

Children & Printmaking

Thinking & Creating with a Line

When a child, or any person discovers that he or she can print a strong, decisive line, something important happens. It is a recognition of oneself as capable. That sense of self as competent gets reinforced through repetition. It is through repetition, with slight variations, that new avenues of expression and creation open. It is a subtle, yet powerful shift in self-awareness. The goal of this program is to offer strategies for guiding this creative process.

Explore line printing with 3 year-olds to 83 year-olds. Line is a basic art and design element and a key to unlocking the creative process. You will be amazed by what you and your students can construct with a little piece of cardboard and some paint!

“This is fantastic. It’s really a beautiful piece of work and I love how the videos amplify and teach the principles of each section. This will be so useful to teachers, after school programs, and parents that want to explore this approach with children.”

Sam Intrator
Professor and Chair of Education and Child Studies Department, Professor of Urban Education Smith College

“Full of information, detail and content, but done in an engaging, interesting, accessible format. You have something great here- the power and potential of line thinking and printing. A great instructional tool for both pre-service and current teachers.”

Susan Etheredge
Professor of Education and Child Study, Smith College

“Thinking with a Line offers a variety of wonderful, inexpensive, mind-expanding activities that lend themselves to adaptation for Special Needs students. My students with fine motor and spatial awareness issues were thrilled when they were able to represent their ideas in such a strong and satisfying way.”

Mary Beth Radke
Special Education Teacher, Reading Specialist

“I think the format is appealing and user-friendly, the projects themselves wonderfully engaging and fun, and the explanations excellent for putting theory into practice!”

Cathy Reid
Elementary School Principal

See What Others Say!

To Print a Line

A small rectangle of cardboard dipped into paint easily becomes a tool for making lines.

Dip

Lift

Press

Repeat

Experiment! Print a strong line. Try vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. Extend, cross and connect lines. Form shapes, letters, patterns, and a multitude of other structures. You will soon realize that you are thinking and creating with a line!