Shapes, colors, and fine motor practice all in one pretty package. We loved this project, and I know you will too.
Our best projects are usually the result of experimentation. We started with a lesson on shapes for the benefit of my preschooler and ended with a marvelous textured paint collage that my second-grader called “the best art ever” (until the next best art ever, that is).
It’s fun for kids of all ages to play with textures and make collages, combining all of that into one activity rises the fun factor.
My preschooler is learning all about shapes, so the other day I created a couple of pages of shapes and printed them out for all my kids to cut, color, and explore. After a while my older kids asked if they could color the shapes with the puffy paint.
Puffy paint is what we call tempera paint mixed with glue and corn starch. It’s perfect for texture experimentation, so I threw in a couple of brushes, plastic forks, toothpicks…As we were looking at the pretty colored shapes, we thought, Hey, why don’t we put them in a collage.
And we did!
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What you need
Shapes (you can print ours or draw your own)
School Glue (we prefer clear)
Corn Starch
Dixie cups (or some other containers for paints)
Q-tips for applying paints
Brushes, plastic forks and knifes, sticks, toothpicks, anything that will help create texture
Glitter or glitter glue (optional)
Washi tape (optional) to frame the finished product
What to do
- Print the shapes here or draw your own.
- Cut out all the shapes, except for the last page (this is the base of the collage).
- Mix puffy paint: tempera paint + liquid school glue + corn starch. You can play with different proportions. Play with the proportions until the desired thickness is achieved. It’s fun to make it a bit different for each color.
- Apply a small amount of paint to each shape.
- Experiment with creating different textures.
- Dry completely.
- Glue the shapes to the base: notebook page or the rectangle on the last page of our printout.
- Let it dry completely. Keep as is or frame it with washi tape.
What do you think?
Jae says
Hi! This Jae of Pinay Homeschooler. I love your work here, it’s like in Eric Carle’s books! I featured your post in our Learn & Play Link Up this week. Thank you for sharing and hope you join us again. Thank you!
Eva /Kid Minds says
Thank you, Jae!
Farrah says
Such a cute and fun project! 😀 You’re making me wish I still volunteered at that children’s hospital by my undergrad! *-*
Homegrown Adventures says
Oh how fun. My younger two would love this. Anything to do with paint is fun. 🙂
Kendra says
I have three boys and I think they would all love this even though they’re at different ages (8, 6 and 2). Simple, not many supplies. I love it!