Recreate First Letter of Your Name With Negative/Positive Technique

If I don't have acrylic paint or scrap cardboard, what can I use instead?

Use washable tempera or poster paint for the paint steps and substitute scrap cardboard with a cereal box or thick construction paper to protect the table and to cut your stencil from during the cut-and-paint steps.

My stencil keeps tearing or the paint bleeds under it—how can I fix that?

Reinforce the pencil-drawn letter by tracing it onto thicker cardboard before cutting, tack the cutout stencil down with small pieces of tape when tracing or painting, and let each painted layer fully dry before gluing the cutout in the mounting step to prevent tearing and bleed.

How can I adapt this letter negative/positive activity for different ages?

For preschoolers, use pre-cut foam letters and washable paint and skip cutting, for elementary kids follow all steps with safety scissors, and for teens add precise block-letter designs, finer brushes, or layered stencils for more complex compositions before photographing the final pieces.

What are some ways to extend or personalize the finished positive/negative pieces?

Before gluing the cutout in the mounting step, add patterned paper, textured paint, metallic accents, or a painted border to the blank sheet, create a series of the same letter in different contrasting color pairs, then photograph and share the set on DIY.org as a mini-exhibit.