A collage is an art form that involves creating a composition by arranging and sticking different materials onto a surface. The materials used can range from paper, fabric, and natural elements to recycled materials, stickers, and paint.
Collage making offers children a chance to explore their creativity and engage in creative development, experiment with colors and shapes, and develop fine motor skills through cutting, tearing, and arranging materials.
In the article, you’ll find cool collage activities just for kids. They’ll get to use their imagination and make awesome art with all kinds of stuff!
Collage Art Activity Ideas for Kids
Torn Paper Fish Collage Activity (3-5 Years)
The Torn Paper Fish Collage Activity is a crafty project that combines creativity with fine motor skills. This activity is great for developing hand-eye coordination and teaching about colors, shapes, and the concept of a collage.
Materials: Construction paper or colored paper, child-safe glue or glue stick, template of a fish or you can use our printable.
How to Do:
- Start by tearing small pieces of colored paper into various shapes and sizes.
- Apply glue to the area of the fish template where you want to place your torn paper pieces.
- Stick the torn pieces onto the fish template, overlapping them to create a collage effect.
- Continue until the entire fish is covered and the collage looks full and vibrant.
Tickets Collage Activity (5-10 Years)
A Tickets Collage Activity is a creative way for kids to make a colorful artwork using various ticket stubs, involving color mixing to improve the vibrancy of the collage. Plus, it’s a perfect opportunity to reuse and recycle old tickets!
Materials: Collection of old ticket stubs (from buses, trains, planes, events, etc.), large sheet of paper or poster board for background, glue or glue stick for attaching tickets.
How to Do:
- Arrange your tickets on the poster board to plan out your collage before gluing anything.
- Apply glue to the back of each ticket and place it on the poster board.
- Overlap the tickets in different directions to fill up space and create an interesting pattern.
- Press down firmly to make sure each ticket sticks well.
Recycled Items Collage Activity (4-8 Years)
The Recycled Items Collage Activity is a fantastic way to reuse materials that you might have around the house. It’s not just an art project, It’s a lesson in recycling and creativity.
Materials: Cardboard pieces from old boxes, recycled items such as bottle caps, pencils, and paper scraps, glue or strong adhesive for attaching the items onto the cardboard.
How to Do:
- Choose a theme for your collage, like animals, flowers, or whatever you like.
- Cut the cardboard into a shape that matches your theme, like an owl, a tree, or a flower.
- Sort your recycled items by color or size to decide where they might fit in your collage.
- Glue the recycled items onto the cardboard to fill in the shape and create a textured look.
- Let the glue dry completely before displaying your recycled collage art.
Rainy Day Collage Activity (3-6 Years)
The Rainy Day Collage is a lovely art project that captures the essence of a rainy day. It’s a fun way for kids to engage with different textures and colors, making it one of the enjoyable activities for kids to create a scene.
Materials: Construction paper in various colors for umbrellas, cotton balls for clouds, rice grains or white yarn for raindrops, blue paper for background, glue for assembling the collage.
How to Do:
- Cut out umbrella shapes from the colored construction paper.
- Glue cotton balls to your blue paper for clouds.
- Stick rice grains or pieces of white yarn vertically to represent rain.
- Attach the umbrellas under the clouds with glue.
Rainbow Collage Activity (3-5 Years)
The Rainbow Collage Activity is a joyful and colorful project, perfect for engaging in rainbow activity, that brings the beauty of a rainbow to life with simple materials.It’s a perfect sunny day craft!
Materials: Paper with rainbow outline, colored paper or tissue paper cut into small pieces, cotton balls for clouds, glue for sticking everything down.
How to Do:
- Sort your colored paper pieces into colors of the rainbow.
- Apply glue within the lines of one arc of the rainbow on your paper.
- Stick the pieces of colored paper onto the glued area, following the colors of the rainbow.
- Glue cotton balls at the base of the rainbow to make fluffy clouds.
Pasta Collage Activity (3-7 Years)
The Pasta Collage Activity is a hands on craft that’s perfect for children to practice their fine motor skills and creativity. It transforms pasta into a picture!
Materials: Different shapes and sizes of dry pasta, paints (optional), glue or glue stick for attaching pasta, construction paper or cardboard for the base.
How to Do:
- Decide what picture you want to create with your pasta.
- If you want colorful pasta, paint your pasta pieces and let them dry.
- Draw a simple outline of your picture on the construction paper or cardboard.
- Apply glue within the outline and stick the pasta on to fill in the shape.
Pom Pom Collage Activity (3-6 Years)
This Pom Pom Collage Activity is a fun and fluffy craft that allows kids to explore textures and colors while creating a vibrant 3D artwork!
Materials: Sheet of paper with a simple outline of a picture (like a butterfly) or you can use our printable, colorful pom poms, glue or glue stick.
How to Do:
- Look at the picture outline on your paper.
- Choose pom poms that match the colors in the picture or go wild with your own color scheme.
- Put glue inside the outline and start sticking the pom poms on, filling the shape from one end to the other.
Paper Plate Collage Activity (3-5 Years)
The Paper Plate Collage Activity is a colorful and playful craft that turns ordinary paper plates into lovely creatures. Kids can get creative with paint and decorations to bring their paper plate pals to life.
Materials: Paper plates, paints in vibrant colors, construction paper or colored card for spikes or features, googly eyes or stickers for decoration, glue or double-sided tape.
How to Do:
- Paint the paper plates in the colors of your choice and let them dry.
- Cut out spikes or features from construction paper or colored card.
- Stick the spikes around the half edge of the plate to make it look like a dinosaur or a fantastical creature.
- Add googly eyes or other decorations to give your creature personality.
News Paper Collage Activity (4-6 Years)
Creating a newspaper collage is an excellent way to recycle old newspapers and practice fine motor skills. You can make a charming piece of art, like this rabbit, with just a few simple items.
Materials: Outline of a rabbit on paper (use our printable for the same), old newspapers, glue or glue stick, optional scissors for cutting out specific shapes or texts.
How to Do:
- Tear or cut pieces of newspaper into various sizes.
- Apply glue within the rabbit outline on your paper.
- Stick the pieces of newspaper onto the glued area, overlapping them to cover the entire shape.
- Once the glue dries, add details like eyes or other features if you wish.
Name Collage Activity (3-6 Years)
The Name Collage is a vibrant and creative way to personalize art with your own name. It’s perfect for all ages and makes a great decoration for a room or a heartfelt gift.
Materials: Colored paper or foam sheets, scissors for cutting letters and shapes, glue for sticking pieces down, large background paper or canvas.
How to Do:
- Cut out the letters of your name from the colored paper or foam sheets.
- Arrange the letters on your background. You can align them or scatter them artistically.
- Glue additional shapes like hearts or stars around your name to make it pop.
- Finally, glue the letters in place on your background paper or canvas.
Money Collage Activity (5-8 Years)
Crafting a money tree collage is a unique and visual way to talk about money management, savings, and the value of money. It’s not just an art project but also an educational activity for all ages!
Materials: Paper or cardboard for drawing the tree, real or play coins, green paper cut into leaf shapes, glue or double-sided tape.
How to Do:
- Draw and cut out a tree shape from the cardboard.
- Glue the coins onto the branches to represent fruits or leaves.
- Fill in the spaces by gluing the green paper leaves around the coins.
Family Tree Collage Activity (5-12 Years)
The Family Tree Collage is a creative and personal project where you can explore your family history in a visual form. It’s not just fun, but it’s also a lovely way to learn about and celebrate your relatives!
Materials: Large poster board for the tree or simply use our printable, scissors for cutting out shapes, photos of family members, glue or double-sided tape to attach photos.
How to Do:
- Draw and cut out a big tree with lots of branches on your poster board.
- Cut the photos of your family members into circles or any shape you like.
- Glue the photos onto the tree branches, starting with the oldest generation at the top or bottom, depending on your preference.
Flower Collage Activity (3-8 Years)
A flower collage is a beautiful art piece that brings the beauty of the garden indoors. It’s a great way to celebrate the variety of colors and shapes in nature.
Materials: Fresh or artificial flower petals in different colors, a large sheet of paper or canvas as a background, glue for attaching the petals.
How to Do:
- Arrange the petals on your paper or canvas to create a design or pattern.
- Once you’re happy with your design, glue the petals down.
- Allow your collage to dry before hanging or displaying it.
Fabric collage Activity (4-9 Years)
The fabric collage activity is a creative way to make a colorful masterpiece! It’s perfect for exploring textures and patterns.
Materials Used: Scraps of fabric in various textures, colors, and patterns, canvas or thick piece of paper for the base, and glue suitable for fabric.
How to Do:
- Sort your fabric scraps by color and texture.
- Plan out your design by arranging the scraps on your base.
- Glue each piece down, making sure the edges are secure.
Christmas Collage Activity (3-6 Years)
This Christmas Collage is a festive way to celebrate the holiday spirit and engage in christmas activity. By creating a forest of paper trees, you can make your own winter wonderland!
Materials: Green construction paper cut into tree shapes, star stickers or cutouts for tree tops, glittery string or ribbon for garland, red and gold sequins or small stickers for decorations.
How to Do:
- Arrange the green paper trees in a pattern on your base paper.
- Place a star sticker at the top of each tree.
- Drape the glittery string across the trees to look like garland.
- Add the sequins or stickers to the trees as ornaments.
Candy Paper Collage Activity (3-7 Years)
Creating a candy paper collage is a sweet and colorful way to make art! It’s also a fun way to recycle candy wrappers.
Materials: Various candy wrappers of different colors and sizes, a large piece of paper or cardboard for the base, glue or double-sided tape to stick the wrappers.
How to Do:
- Lay out your base paper or cardboard.
- Arrange the candy wrappers on the base to create a pattern or random design.
- Once you’re happy with the layout, glue or tape the wrappers down.
Button Collage Activity (3-6 Years)
Let’s make a cheerful and colorful button collage that looks like a bouquet of balloons! This is a creative way to use buttons and engage in button activities while practicing fine motor skills.
Materials: A variety of colorful buttons, strong glue or glue stick, a piece of paper (white or colored).
How to Do:
- Arrange your buttons on the paper to form the shapes of balloons.
- Once you’re happy with the layout, glue each button in place.
- Draw or glue strings from the buttons to the bottom of the paper to look like balloon strings.
Bird Nest Collage Activity (3-7 Years)
Get ready to create your very own bird’s nest collage with materials you can find around you! This activity is great for learning about nature and birds, and you end up with a beautiful piece of art.
Materials: Dried leaves, grass, and twigs, small white stones or beans for eggs, green leaves for a pop of color.
How to Do:
- Start by arranging the dried leaves, grass, and twigs in a circular shape to form the nest.
- Place the green leaves inside the nest to act as padding.
- Put the small white stones or beans in the center to represent eggs.
Snowflake Collage Activity (3-5 Years)
The Snowflake Collage Activity is a lovely and creative way for children to explore the uniqueness of snowflakes and engage in snowflake activities, enjoying the beauty of winter, all from the warmth of indoors.
This craft encourages fine motor skills, concentration, and the enjoyment of making something one of a kind.
Materials: White paper or pre-cut paper snowflakes in various designs, background paper in any color, glue stick or liquid glue, optional glitter or sequins for decoration.
How to Do:
- If not using pre-cut snowflakes, fold and cut white paper to make snowflakes of different sizes or simply use our printable and cut it out.
- Arrange the snowflakes on your background paper to see how they look best.
- Glue the snowflakes down, creating a pattern or a random design as you like.
- If you wish, decorate with glitter or sequins to give your snowflakes a sparkling touch.
Foil Paper Collage Activity (4-6 Years)
The Foil Paper Collage Activity is an exciting craft that lets kids explore textures and reflections by creating a colorful artwork.
It’s a fun way to work with different materials and a great exercise for kids to practice their cutting and gluing skills, all while being creative!
Materials: Foil paper in various colors, sheet of plain paper or cardboard as a base, glue stick or liquid glue, scissors (if needed to cut the foil paper).
How to Do:
- Decide on a design for your collage. It could be abstract or a simple scene like the one in the picture.
- Tear or cut the foil paper into shapes that fit your design.
- Apply glue on the base paper where you want to place your foil pieces.
- Stick the foil pieces on the base, pressing down to ensure they adhere properly.
- Overlap pieces of foil to mix colors or create new shapes.
Friendship Collage Activity (5-8 Years)
The Friendship Collage Activity is a heartwarming and engaging craft that allows children to celebrate their friends.
Through this activity, they can express their appreciation for friendship by creating a visual tribute to their pals, highlighting fun memories and shared moments.
Materials: Pictures of friends or printed images representing friendship, construction paper or large sheet of poster board, glue sticks or school glue, scissors (optional, for cutting out pictures or shapes), markers, stickers, or any other decorative items.
How to Do:
- Select your favorite pictures or images that remind you of friends.
- Arrange the pictures on your poster board to plan how you want your collage to look.
- Glue each picture onto the board where you’ve chosen to place it.
- Add decorative elements like stickers, drawings, or words to improve your collage.
- Display the collage in your room or somewhere you can see it and smile!
Conclusion
In the end, collage activities are super fun for kids. They help them play with colors and textures, making cool art while also learning.
We’ve shared lots of ideas in this article to get you started. So grab some papers, glue, and scissors, and let the fun begin!
Remember, the best part is not just the finished artwork but also the journey of making it. Happy collaging!
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. I’m here to help you with play-based learning activities and crafts for kids ages 0 – 8. ( Cledemy.com is my Next startup on Pre to 8th Grade Printable and Worksheet Education Resources)
