Paper Plate Flower Collages

My inspiration for this project came from this post at 'Pink Stripey Socks'. They had used four paper plates cut into flower shapes of decreasing size and stapled together. I gave students two paper plates each and one small circle of thick paper for the smallest shape.

I began by asking grade one students to fold their plates in half and drawing a simple pattern of petals around the edge of the semi-circle. They then cut through both layers of the plate (which proved a little difficult for some tiny hands who needed assistance) and unfolded to reveal the whole circle. Once they had cut their three circles, we stapled them together and the children used bright coloured tempera paints to paint their flowers.

Once dry, they also used oil pastels to add more colour and detail and scrap pieces of coloured paper to add leaves and stamen to their flowers. 

They were all quite different and look fantastic displayed together!

 

Aboriginal Inspired "Bark" Paintings

Bark painting images via http://www.tribalmania.com

 

Aboriginal bark painting is an art form that has existed in Australia for hundreds of years and is still practiced by indigenous peoples in Western Australia's Kimberley region. My grade three students recently celebrated NAIDOC Week by creating aboriginal inspired paintings.

Students scrunched and creased a piece of brown paper to create a surface imitating the texture and softness of bark. They were then asked to draw an Australian animal for the focus of their design and to create line and pattern in their work inspired by images of various examples of traditional Aboriginal artwork. We discussed the innovative practices of the aboriginal peoples who used crushed rock and clay pieces, charcoal and mixtures of blood, feathers, fat and other organic material to create their paints, resulting in a variety of earthy colours. Students were asked to use a similar colour range when painting their design and were offered small paintbrushes as well as various sticks to use as painting tools.

The work was completed by gluing sticks collected from the school grounds to the edges of the painting and tying string to the top of each piece for display.

More Cat Collages

 

I recently decided to revisit this project which I first completed with grade 1 students a few years ago. My first post about this project can be viewed here.  

I discussed with students the type of simple shapes that could be cut from coloured paper pieces and how to assemble them to create a cat. Students were then free to complete their collage using their choice of papers. Children's depictions of animals are always completely charming and these coloured paper collages are indeed adorable.