Collage Art and Glue for Toddlers

One evening last week I picked up a copy of Nancy Beal’s The Art of Teaching Art to Children.  Beal’s book, which is written for teachers and parents of young artists ages 5 and up, is a firsthand account of her experiences in her art classroom.  She describes methods, special techniques, and behavior management for working with young artists, as well as how to guide a young artist to his understanding of himself, the medium(s), as well as to his ideas/emotions that he will work out by means of the art medium.

At first I wondered that I might find Beal’s book helpful for teaching art to my 2 year old, especially since many of her lessons and techniques seemed more appropriate for school aged children.  That said, what I found out as I paged through The Art of Teaching Art to Children was that the set-up, tools, and lessons that Beal recommends for older children may be modified and made useful for even younger artists, like my daughter Annabelle.

To get started, I read and reread Beal’s chapter on collage, which seemed a natural place for introducing a toddler or pre-schooler to more advanced art techniques (we have long since discovered and practiced drawing, though we are more imaginative than observational).  Below I have included my notes:
Collage

Set-up

• 2 children to a large table.

• Format, or paper, which is the background for the collage. Available in various sizes and colors.

• Tools: scissors, stapler, glue, precut collage papers (various colors, textures, prints) in various shapes, fabrics, cardboard, bark (nature collage),drip paper, burlap, leather, lace, corduroy, feathers, yarn, small and large storage boxes that contain the different papers and texture collage materials.

Lesson 1: Glue

1.Transfer glue to baby food jars prior to beginning the lesson. Each jar of glue should be accompanied by a cheap paint brush.
2.Give or show child how to get her jar of glue, a paint brush, and drip paper that collects the spilt glue.
3.Child uses paint brush and glue to assemble collage.

Lesson 2: Cleanup

1.Child places brushes in a large jar with water in it or child washes the brush.
2.Child puts jar and drip paper away.
3.Child returns unused materials to storage boxes.
4.Parent/teacher repurposes scrap materials (cutting shapes from a torn piece of paper, etc.).

What I learned

When I set up this activity for Annabelle, I gave her a jar of gesso (similar to glue though harder and stronger and more appropriate for painting), a paint brush, pre-cut paper shapes in 2 colors, and a format paper for her collage.  I placed the paper shapes according to color and shape, and used newspaper as drip paper.   I also setup Annabelle’s glue and paint brush close to her on the drip paper and stepped back to watch her begin her work.

She intently focused on selecting her shapes and seemed to enjoy spreading glue with her paintbrush across each paper shape.  She then seemed to think about where to place her shape on her format paper and having once made up her mind, firmly pressed her shape to the paper.  She repeated the process again and again and completed 3 collages for her first project.

However.  I made a bad decision after watching Annabelle intently focus on her first 2 collages.  I decided that it would be okay to leave the room and start dinner while she worked on collage #3.   When I returned from the kitchen, I saw that Annabelle discovered glue’s similarity to paint and had decided to paint herself and her chair with glue.  Fortunately, we were able to wash everything up.  Unfortunately, I was eager to remove her gesso covered clothing and skipped the clean up steps that Beal recommends (and that I believe are as important as the art activity itself. )  Next time, I’ll have a bit more foresight and will stay in my young artist’s presence so long as she is working with her mediums.

Below are samples of her collage work.

green on orange,

and green and purple triangles and squares on white and on black.

For our next collage project, we had the surprising luxury of discovering a children’s art room at the Explore and More Hands-on Children’s Museum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (an accidental stop on our eco-friendly weekend getaway).  There, the owners had structured the art room with safety, mess, and accessibility in mind for young artists (I learned that the owner is a former pre-school teacher).   We found multiple containers with a variety of collage materials available including fabric, feathers, beads, found objects, and papers.   Annabelle selected feathers, popsicle sticks, and paper, and made herself comfortable at the large tables that were central to the room.

Voila!  Glued down!

To continue with our gluing and collage explorations, I intend to search for glue and collage projects that are holiday and season oriented, as well as those that follow Annabelle’s interests (for example, today she she found nut shells (boats as she calls them), a pinecone, and leaves, which will make for a fine natural collage).

Meanwhile, I’m wondering, are you and your toddler exploring the sticky and oh-so-fun aspects of glue?  Or, if you are an artist (or have a young one), do you have other ideas for great collage projects?

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