Wrapping Paper, Glue and Collages

Are you looking for something to do with leftover bits of wrapping paper? 

If so, simply gather some new, or slightly used wrapping paper, safety scissors, glue and white poster paper. You might also wish to have a pencil and eraser handy.

Ready, set go and cut a piece of poster paper to a size of around 9" x 12" (22cm x 30cm). 

Now, choose a design or image to work with. This could be a fish, a rooster, a sunshine or a car... whatever you decide is fine. 

Lightly draw an outline of your image onto the poster paper - remembering to keep it simple! 

Next, cut your wrapping paper up into shapes that you can use to create your image. Take some time to work out all the details. 

When you are happy with your choices, glue the wrapping paper shapes down onto your poster paper drawing. 

You've just created a cool collage!

Did You Know...

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC describes collage as a technique that incorporates fragments of commercially printed paper into compositions. They also say, today, any material glued or fastened to a surface may be called a collage.

Collage is often said to have been invented by Cubism artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. However, many years prior to Cubism, Italian portrait painters often pasted small bits of gilded paper and sometimes jewels and stones onto their paintings.

Now you know.

Lesson: Andrea Mulder-Slater

Illustration: Geoff Slater

Find thousands of FREE art lesson plans at http://www.kinderart.com.

Keep creating!

~Andrea

Hand and Foot Print Reindeer

Lately, we have been making Christmas decorations for the tree. We've added glitter glaze to pine cones, tied string onto buttons, painted on bits of wood and used construction paper to make chains.

 

Meanwhile, because my daughter has been experimenting with tracing her hands, I thought I'd surprise her with an activity that involved tracing her feet. As you can see, she jumped right in.

Then we traced her hands.

I cut the tracings out and Jannique glued them to a sheet of black paper. She also added our favorite stuff - Glitter Glaze - and a couple of googly eyes with lots and lots of glue (of course).

Once the reindeer dried, I cut him out, taped a piece of string on the back and hung him in our tree. His antlers curled a bit but it only made him more appealing. 

This is a great activity for little ones, and we've got all the steps online at KinderArt.com:

http://kinderart.com/seasons/handfoot_reindeer.shtml

Keep creating!

~Andrea

How to Make Paper Snowflakes

This special KinderArt Blog post has been written by a dear friend of mine, Anitra Redlefsen.

Anitra is a is a Teaching Artist who conducts hands-on visual art workshops for students and teachers that are based upon the Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Visual Arts and other curriculum subjects. Her delightful website is located at artisjoy.com.

Here, without further delay, is her guest post. It is all about... paper snowflakes!

~Andrea

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Hi everyone!

Andrea at KinderArt.com has a great project that I HAVE to pass along to everyone! This is hard to believe, but at my ripe old age of, ahem, well, whatever... in my lifetime, I had never cut out a snowflake!

I have always thought of cutting snowflakes as some mysterious, secret thing only few people knew how to do. Andrea showed me how simple and awesome cutting can be! Of course, it is all in the folding! Why didn’t I know that?

Anyway, here are some "refresher" basics ~ this is an activity for both big and little kids, so have fun!

1. Provide standard sizes of paper ~ I chose 6" squares and 6 1/2 rounds. I drew the circles using the perimeter of a gallon paint can. You can find something around the house to draw your circles.
2. For the squares, fold four or five times, matching opposite corners. For the circles, start with folding it in half, then more.
3. Do your cutting, open, and voila!
4. You can do your snowflakes on plain white paper or color papers. I made one snowflake using origami paper that has a color on one side and is white on the other side. Kind of cool.
5. You can also "decorate" your snowflake using glitter, etc.
6. Make a stand to display your snowflake ~ we used some wood pieces (about 5" square) spray painted black. Drill a small hole, insert a piece of wire (about 12”) and bend it slightly at the end to make a "hook."

 

Find all sorts of printable snowflake patterns at KinderArt: http://kinderart.com/seasons/dec7.shtml

Find all sorts of printable snowflake patterns at KinderArt: http://kinderart.com/seasons/dec7.shtml

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Anitra Redlefsen is a Teaching Artist who conducts hands-on visual art workshops for students and teachers that are based upon the Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Visual Arts and other curriculum subjects. Anitra is on the roster of Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, the Ohio State-Based Collaborative Initiative (a program of the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education Program), and on the Medina County Performing Arts Tours.

She conducts private lessons for students of all ages and abilities, specializing in working with those who are gifted or have special needs.

Anitra does commission work, exhibits her work locally, and is a conference presenter for groups and organizations. Anitra is a substitute teacher for the Medina County School District, and is writing and illustrating a book about her passion ~ pomegranates!

Anitra holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art and Communications, and a Masters of Science in Human Resource Development and Training.

http://www.artisjoy.com/

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Until next time, keep creating,

~Andrea