Postage Stamp Art Project

Here are two templates to use for postage stamps:  one full stamp or a sheet of nine.

You could also just draw them in boxes and then cut them out with those craft scissors that have the funky edges.

My 4th/5th grade class designed their own postage stamps.  I brought in a box of stamps for them to look through and see up close.  I also showed them a short Powerpoint about stamps throughout history.

There is information on the USPS website about stamp collecting if you are interested.

I went in to my local post office and asked them if they had any posters or information about commemorative stamps and they gave me several catalogs of the commemorative stamps for this year to use as reference.  They also gave me enough “postal stamp activity books” with things like word searches and coloring pages for the kids to take home (which is just kind of a fun “extra” thing to get them excited about stamps.)

The students could either make one large stamp or a sheet of smaller stamps.  I allowed the students to create a design with any theme they wanted, as long as they included the country and value.

Here is a handout I gave to the kids before they created their stamps:

Postage Stamps Handout

I love stamps and there is so much you can do with them in a teaching environment.

• Tie in with Literature (create a stamp as part of a “book report”)
• Connect to Social Studies (as part of a research project on a specific country)
• Connect with Science (create a stamp with a scientific theme or based topics you’ve covered this year)
• Tie in with biographies (make a stamp based on a famous person)
• Integrating with Technology/Computer class (make your stamp digitally, print out and swap with other classmates)
• Do you have an idea to share?

There are many artists out there who make their own artistamps (faux postage) and use them to embellish their mail art.  The stamps are not meant to “trick” the postal system, but to be used alongside regular stamps as artistic enhancement.  I made a bunch of these years ago when I used to swap mail art.  This site also has a good explanation of the history of mail art.  (However, navigation on there is a bit confusing.  Use the scroll bar on the bottom of your browser to move across the page.)