A City by the River- Easy Paper Collage Idea for Kids

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A collage is a work of art put together with scraps of paper, cloth & glue. Originating from the French word “coller”, meaning “to glue”, the collage allows you to experiment with a wide range of materials to achieve amazing end results.

A City by the River- Easy Paper Collage Idea for Kids

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The process I show here is just one of many ways that you can create a whole collection of designs from a cut paper collage. It’s a method that works for me because it’s low-tech, low overhead, low pressure, and no-mess since there’s no paint involved. With a little luck, you can create an entire collection of designs using colors, shapes, and motifs!

To make the A City by the River Paper Collage Idea

1. Collect Paper. For all but the largest and most intricate shapes, I like to use paint chips from a hardware or home improvement store. They’re free, they’re colorful, and they lay relatively flat.

2. Cut the Paper Into Shapes. First, gather all your colored paper. Then just start cutting out shapes! I try to do a mix of shapes: geometric and organic, large and small, vertically- and horizontally-oriented, etc. Simple shapes can be cut freehand or, if you want some fancier shapes, try drawing them on the back of the paper first and then cutting them out.

3. Lay Out The Cut Shapes to Create a Collage. I lay my shapes out onto a Letter sized cardstock. If you are doing a collaborative project, use a bigger card paper – A3 size. These are good because they’re stiff enough to carry around in case I need to move my collage while working on it. And, once you lay out a composition that you end up really liking, you could glue the pieces down. The Letter size is easily photographed and can also be easily framed.

Learn about the various shapes – Square, rectangle, semi-circle, and Triangles. It is very simple and easy for any kid to assemble.

The Kids read the story “The Cat and the Bird” as an introduction to the artist Paul Klee. As we read the story, students were asked to point out Klee’s use of geometric shapes to create the building shapes, like squares, rectangles, triangles, and rhombus. We also looked at some of Klee’s artworks and again noted the use of geometric shapes. Kids then used papers to create their own artworks of a city by combining the different shapes.