Collage Making

We love to make collages! Generally, Joshua just makes his own creative collage from the "scrap box" I keep stocked for him. In it you would find bits of paper- colored, patterned, white, shiny etc..., small pieces of fun foam (leftover from projects), peas, beans, buttons, yarn bits, pretty much anything he can glue on to paper! The box is kept on his "art table" in the living room along with scissors, glue, a glue stick, markers, crayons, and a pencil.

However, (you knew there must be a point right?) I really wanted him to get some more practice with scissors. Not just cutting willy-nilly though, but real, thoughtful cutting. So I went through parenting magazines (actually digging them out of the recycling) and cut out a ton of different things he might be interested in. The twist was...I did not cut them out neatly, I cut them into long thin strips so he would be required to cut them down into smaller pictures. He still only needed to cut a bit on each side so it was still completely do-able, but was challenged by having to look at each one and decide where and how much to cut off!


I was really impressed with the job he did and the effort he put into it! He actually filled the entire paper up which I am not sure had ever occurred to him before.

Afterward, I added a teacher's catalog to his art table. Explaining that he can use that to cut and glue whenever he wants. He has not used it yet but I am sure looking forward to watching his cutting and creativity blossom!

Edit - Oh yeah...and...I cut out the numbers in the picture on the right. Don't want you to think he is some scissor virtuoso or anything ;)

Shannon