Collaging with Scissors [Art Explorer #6]

An old mini collage I made for a school assignment

        Collaging can be used in various ways. In the past, I've always enjoyed making collages for school projects to express myself and help others get a glimpse of who I am - the things I'm interested in, things I like and enjoy. It's definitely a good approach to communicate personal identity because collaging has no boundaries. Children can be as creative as they want; they can add anything to a collage that depicts who they are and what they want others to know about them. The activity I thought of is inspired by an old project I completed back in highschool. It's called a 'ME BOX'. The collage idea is still the main component, but instead of using a a large piece of paper for children to glue all their materials on, children will be creating their collage on a box (ie. shoe box, small cardboard boxes etc). Similarly, it can be used to communicate children's understanding of the world. A collage about the

         Inside this box they can store trinkets of items that they might want to bring in to share with the class. For instance, in my mini collage I glued stamps and an origami heart. So, I might decide to bring in more of my stamp collection to show to my classmates. The heart represents my interest in origami so I might choose to bring in other origami creations into the box.

Art Word of the Week
Line [lahyn]
According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009), "lines can be used in many different ways, they have their own dimensions, including size, direction, length, width, and weight, as well as their own personality" (p. 135). A line is:
- something we use to make letters, words, numbers, symbols and signs
- a continuation of a dot
- helps artist define shapes and contours or represent edges
- a visible mark made by an artistic tool, such as a crayon, moved across a surface, such as paper
         In this activity, a line may or may not be made by crayons or pencils. In fact, it may be made with scissors as children create various shapes and sizes of lines by cutting out things that they might have found in magazines, newspapers, or drawings.
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & creative development for young children (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning