Summer Bucket List: Make Eric Carle-style Collage Art

We all enjoyed looking at Eric Carle books. If your kids are small, they might be currently looking at them, but I find even older kids enjoy making Eric Carle-style collage art.

Remember the marbled paper we made?

Well now you can put it to some use with this project.
 Just pick up any Eric Carle book and look at his unique collage style.

 Then begin cutting...

and let the gluing begin.

Here are the results of my kids!
The marbled paper became maps of enchanted lands, giraffes munching on lunch, lobsters, fire breathing dragons, birds tucked in the holes of trees, lions stretching in the Savannah sun...

Alex's lobster

almost as if by magic.

Originally published Jul 6, 2012

123...I Can Collage!...From Nature

This is our newest collage and it is made entirely of found natural objects. This makes a great art project to do at the beach because all you need to bring to the beach is paper and glue...and your imagination, of course. You then just need to go on a nature excursion and collect whatever looks interesting to you. Or you can use things you can gather in your yard or around your neighborhood. You can sketch out a plan so that you can look for objects that are the shapes you want. You can trim things to make them the length and shape you want...

and glue them down.

This crab was made by first putting a layer of glue at the bottom of the page and then sprinkling on sand. Since we live in a beach town, that wasn't too hard, but you could use sandbox sand as well. We then used tall sea grasses for the legs, bending them sometimes to look like legs. The claws were made from oval leaves that we tore down the middle and glued onto the paper. Thin grasses made the antennae. Holly berries were used for the eyes. A large leaf became the crab's body and small leaves on top became spots on his back.
But you can make yours any way you like.

123...I Can Collage!...Fish Cut Paper Collage

To make a cut-paper fish collage,

first draw a large jellybean shape onto your background paper.

This will be your fish's body. Next cut out two large triangles and two small triangles from different colored paper.
Glue the large ones down for the fish's head and tail and the small ones for the fish's fins.


Now you have to decide how you want to make the fish's scales. You can make them with...

a dot marker...

(Quentin's, 5 years old)

or circles cut our of paper glued to overlap...

(Sam's, 12 years old)

or you can use sticker circles...

(James', 9 years old)

or a combination.
Don't forget eyes and any other details you want.

We made ours out of googly eyes and cut paper.

Want to see other collage techniques?

Octopus Torn Paper Collage

Turtle Paper Weave Collage

123... I Can Collage!...Torn Paper Collage

First paint your background.
Your brushstrokes can be a wavy ocean.
You will need to let this dry before you do any more.

Once your background is dry, tear a large circle out of tissue paper and glue it to your background with glue diluted with a little water. A paintbrush is the best way to apply the glue.
Now, tear long thin strips for the octopus' arms. Glue them around his body.

Octopus have eight arms, so make sure you count eight strips of paper.

You can tuck the edges of the arms under the body.

You can decorate your octopus in any way you like. You can tear off bits of tissue paper of a different color and glue them down for spots. You can use a marker or pencil to draw in suckers or facial features.

Or, you can just leave it like it is.

Doesn't it look like Eric Carle's art?

123...I Can Collage!...Turtle Weaving

Under, Over, Under, Over...

Weave the shell of a sea turtle...

First cut a large oval out of paper for the turtle's shell. Starting at one edge, make a half dozen cuts across the oval, stopping about a half-inch to an inch before you get to the other side.
This makes a great first weaving project because having one edge open makes it easier to weave the paper through shell strips.

Then cut some strips of different colored paper. We used scrapbooking papers with all sorts of patterns on them. Weave these strips over and under the strips in the shell. Alternate which strip goes over and which goes under with each strip you weave.

Trim the ends that peek over the shell's edges. Glue down each strip on each end.

Once you are done, glue the turtle's body on a sheet of colored paper.






Cut out ovals for the head and four feet and add them to your picture. Don't forget to add eyes and perhaps a tail.

Don't you just love your turtle?

Making Collages

Inspired by these, the little boys and I made collages. We just used what we had on hand, which was construction paper. We just cut out shapes...
and glued them on.
Quentin was nervous about cutting out the shapes himself, so I cut them out for him to his specifications. The three of us helped each other, shared ideas and gave advise.

I found out through this that sometimes it is the experience that is more important...

than making them do it themselves, or have only their own ideas.

It was a free exchange of ideas and closeness; a warm, happy, creative time...

one I will never forget.