Collaging offers many benefits to children of all ages; it gives them the opportunity to conjure up creative ideas, improve their fine-motor capabilities, and work on projects independently. In this blog, I’m going to focus on Montessori art collaging for lower elementary students, giving you some helpful hints and inspirational activity ideas to get them going with this type of crafting.
This is part of a larger post, The Ultimate Montessori Art Collaging Guide, goes into further detail on the benefits and provides tips and resources for all Montessori levels.
You can read the blog by clicking here.
Collaging is the process of selecting, assembling, and pasting materials into a unique arrangement or a beautiful work of art. Montessori art collaging is perfect for lower elementary students because they’re at a great age to start exploring textured materials and trying out different art-making techniques.
Lower L students are also capable of planning out their designs with intention and seeing out their creative ideas through realization and the completion of their activity. They can also follow simple, guided-art instructions and begin to work with more abstract themes and concepts.
Montessori Art Collaging, Lower Elementary Materials & Concepts
One of the best things about collaging is that it can be done with almost any kind of material, including: papers, fabrics, natural elements, recycled objects, buttons, tiny beads, sequins, and all other kinds of man-made embellishments. You can even use textured materials like foil, glass, wire, and burlap. There’s really nothing that can’t be collaged!
Since the types of collaging materials you can use are basically endless, the glue or paste you use is important. Some materials won’t stick with a simple glue stick, so you’ll have to decide what adhesive you want to set out so your students will actually be able to collage successfully.
I’d suggest using glue sticks for tissue collaging and light-weight paper; white craft glue can be used for construction paper, fabric, and small embellishments; and a low-temperature glue gun (used with supervision!) works best for plastic, wood, and larger objects.
Giving students the right materials will take care of most of the work for this Montessori art collaging activity. The process is easy for you to demonstrate and easy for lower L students to practice. Collaging really only consists of three steps:
- Cutting – students should begin with cutting interesting shapes out of varying raw materials
- Arranging – once students have the shapes and items they want to work with, they can arrange the elements into designs, patterns, or interesting layouts
- Glueing – after students have an idea of what they want to create, they will apply glue to the back of the materials, then place them back onto the arrangement
Make sure students have the freedom to explore and devise their own layouts. Have your students work in creative mode, with only very simple copy-mode steps. Children at this age level are developing better control of their fine-motor skills, such as scissor use, and will have fun cutting out different shapes out from the materials. And since they’re starting to be able to plan out their art works in their imagination ahead of time, it’s a fun age to see brilliant concepts and ideas come to fruition within their projects.
Where to Start: Montessori Art Collaging Lower Elementary Skills
If your students have never collaged before, start with simple materials, such as paper, before giving them more options. Then, you can even try introducing different patterns and themes, and even show students different artist samples for inspiration. Just make sure students are always allowed to work out their final designs on their own.
5 Montessori Art Collage Ideas for Lower Elementary
Collages can be put together in many different ways, they can be sewn, glued or weaved. They can be abstract in nature or even resemble an image. Here’s five different ways to approach collaging with lower elementary students.
Paper + Tissue
Tissue and paper are ideal to start out with because they’re easy to tear and cut. Their lighter weights mean most craft glues will be able to hold them down securely.
Up-cycled materials
A collage created with up-cycled materials can be made with almost anything, from old cardboard to broken toys. I’ve even used old wetsuits before (like in the photo below)! Using old materials is both an earth-friendly and cost-effective way to create art.
Natural Elements
Collages can also be done using natural elements, such as flowers, leaves, seeds, and twigs. Natural materials can give collages diverse texture and interesting features. Some food items can also be collaged, like dried beans and pasta. The trick to collaging with natural elements is to use a hot glue gun (you may need to do this yourself, or supervise children while they use it), or weave and sew the materials onto the collage base, since craft glue isn’t usually strong enough to hold these objects.
Styrofoam
Styrofoam isn’t the most earth-friendly materials, so I suggest using only recycled pieces. The one reason I do like to use it is because the material is super easy for younger children to cut through. Painting the pieces before using them also introduces the painting domain to your students, and make their creation even more interesting. If you can start repurposing these materials instead of sending them to landfills, you can help the environment.
Images & Design Prompts
Once you have given your students plenty of time to collage their own ideas and explore with different materials in a process-based way, you can then provide them even more inspiration using themed prompts based on subjects you might already be working on. For example, geometric shapes can help with math concepts, while a collage of a bird is a great way to instill zoology lessons. You can even challenge kids to bring color theory into their creations by asking them to create warm, cool, or contrasting color layouts.
One Step Further: Register for My FREE Online Mini-Course
Introducing your lower elementary students to collaging concepts is just one Montessori art activity out of thousands. Lower elementary students are capable of so much when it comes to art! But if you want to keep your students interested in your demonstrations and keep the mess down to a minimum, you have to understand how they learn. That way you can find the perfect balance of teaching them without overwhelming or boring them. And I’ve developed a FREE digital mini-course—the Phases of Art Development—to help you do just that!
It’s an online course that explains how art making helps students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. Not only will it help you teach your students, but I make it easier on you by giving you some examples of art projects lower elementary kids will enjoy creating.
Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.
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The Phases of Art Development is a quick digital course that explains how art making can help students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. More importantly, I share what types of projects students at every age are capable of completing safely, and without making a mess.
Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.
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