Fun With Collage, Part 1

Collages are some of my favorite projects to do. There are so many ways to collage making this such a diverse medium. I have done colleges with children as young as 3 yrs old and I have done collages in my adult classes. You can go as simply or as intricate as you want. I encourage you to play with different papers and fabrics in your collage work. Below you will see some examples of my favorite collage projects from many of the classes I have taught throughout the years. These have been classes both for kids and adults…collage is for everyone!

For these projects you need:

Old magazines, Papers, Cardboard or even Fabrics
Glue (Glue sticks work well for lightweight papers, mod podge for fabrics, or a stronger craft glue for cardboard.)
Scissors
Something to glue your collage to. If you are working in a sketchbook or journal great, if not any piece of plain paper or cardboard will do.

Torn Paper Collage

Try tearing your papers instead of cutting them. There is something about tearing little bits of paper that is quite therapeutic! The above rainbow color collage above was a simple little project I did with bits of torn paper. It was a quick and playful little collage that I did as part of a yoga and art class I was hosting one time. Plus, there is no right or wrong way to tear paper, simply start with colors, pictures, or words that resonate with you. Any size or shape will do. The idea is to overlap your torn pieces of paper so that you cover the entire page you are working on.

This collage was part of a vision board workshop I hosted for women. I combined the torn paper with a cut out image and a bit of wet on wet watercolor play.

Cut Paper Collage

If tearing is not your thing try cutting out images and or words that resonate with you. Cut paper collages, just as torn paper collages can be done with many age groups. For the very youngest children I sometimes provide a series of already cut shapes (both geometric shapes and more organic shapes). If the child has scissor skill though it is better to let them cut their own shapes!

Cut pieces can be arranged in any way you wish. They can be layered over one another, used to create a new picture, or simply collaged to highlight the specific image or word chosen (Think Vision Board).

20171117_201815b — This landscape collage was completed by an adult student, again they focused on colors and textures to create the sky and water, but they highlighted a chosen image for the flower field.

20181015_153508b — The child who completed this collage was about 3 years old. This is an example of a collage using pre-cut shapes. For this project we were focusing on the gluing skill, so we isolated that aspect of the collage by eliminating the need to cut shapes. A large variety of shapes, colors, and patterns were offered for the child to choose from.

Vision Boards

Vision boards are collages that focus on a goal or idea that you want to focus on. They are a very useful tool to help you keep your goals in mind as you strive to reach them. I have done vision boards with children and adults. They are useful, fun, and therapeutic! I like to start off my new year by creating a vision board for the year.

vision board collage — Three examples of vision boards. The far left was done by a child, we started by tracing her head then she collaged her interests and desires inside! The middle was in an adult board from a self-care class focused on intrinsic goals. The third was a board focused on life goals using a combination of words and images.

This should get you started with some fun creative collage ideas for yourself, or your kids. Try using collage as a group activity in a class or with a scout group, women’s circle, or club! Most of all have fun!

For more fun collage check out part 2…

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