Tempera Paint Waste

[ograwk]

I'm wondering how other art teachers deal with using tempera paint and reducing the waste involved. I have the students use Styrofoam plates as pallets, and then they wash off their plates, but often there is a lot of paint going down the sink. I encourage them to take only a small amount of paint, and many of them are doing a good job with it, but I still feel like there is a lot of waste. We've tried saving the paint from one period to the next, but most students want to start with a clean pallet which is understandable. I teach high school and have 4 periods a day of painting. Any advice?

[Securis]

What I did when I had a painting unit was put out the paint myself. I also separated the primary colors into separate palettes and taught students to mix colors on canvas or on separate surfaces like styro-foam and paper plates. When a student or series of students showed that they could get paint, I'd let them refill the primary palettes. You still get some cross contamination but not as bad and afterwords, I'd place the palettes in ziplocs with a bit of water on them.

[ArtTeacher01]

It might not be feasible for you because of storage issues, but I have my high schoolers put their pallete into a trash bag and close it. The paint stays wet and they each use their own pallete day after day. If they mangle it, the live with the consequences! lol

Adam

[ograwk]

Thanks, Adam! I really like that idea - I will have to work out the storage issue, but I have a good sized room so I should be able to make it work!