Playing Dress Up with “Collage Workshop for Kids” by Shannon Merenstein

Collage Workshop for Kids: Rip, snip, cut, and create with inspiration from The Eric Carle Museum by Shannon Merenstein is an excellent resource for caregivers and is a pleasure to share with children from toddlers to primary school-age children.

Artist Shannon Merenstein wrote the book with the art educators from the Eric Carle Museum. Eric Carle is, of course, the master of picture book collage illustration, with books spanning generations such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Grouchy Ladybug.

All art projects in Collage Workshop for Kids: The Eric Carle Museum are open-ended, meaning that instead of every child finishing with the same cookiecutter product, they end up with unique artworks.

What is more, each collage project is not only concerned with the look of the final product but instead focuses on the process of creating art, all the while using imagination, following interests and being guided by the stories children tell through their art.

A focus on using recycled materials as art materials makes many of the activities sustainable, low cost and easy to find!

There are 24 workshops listed in Collage Workshop for Kids: The Eric Carle Museum. Each chapter is themed from ‘Places and Spaces’ to ‘Nature’ to ‘Contrast’ to ‘Tell Me a Story.’ Each workshop lists the tools and materials needed, the process, and adds sections with ‘follow-up thoughts’ and ‘other ideas to try’ which I found valuable.

Workshop 3 is Playing Dress Up. After taking a photo of each young artist and printing black and white copies, the children use collage materials such as fabric scraps, colored papers, washi tape, and more to dress these images of themselves limited only by their imagination.

You Will Need:

Black and White Photos of the Children
Scissors
Neutral Cardstock) for Background
Colored Paper
Glue Sticks and White Glue
Scraps of Paper
Washi Tape
Colored Stickers
Craft Feathers
Ribbons
Buttons

What to Do:

1. Have the children arrange and paste black and white photos of themselves on their background sheet of neutral colored heavyweight paper.

2. Provide children all of the scraps of materials to dress their pictures of themselves.

You can purchase Collage Workshop for Kids: The Eric Carle Museum and some supplies for the project by clicking the links on this book review. Visit my storefront by clicking this link.