A Me, Myself and I project...

BODY COLLAGE (from http://www.kinderart.com/recycle/) - Written by Andrea Mulder-Slater
Grade: K-6
Age: 4-10

What You Need:

• Large paper bags OR a large roll of craft paper
• Pencils
• Crayons, pencil crayons
• Old magazines and photographs
• Fabric, yarn, buttons
• Glue
• Scissors

What You Do:

1. Cut open two large paper bags and tape them together until you have a size that is a little longer and a little wider than yourself.  Or you can use a large section of a craft paper roll.
2. Lie on the paper and have a partner trace around your outline.
3. Cut out the body shape.
4. Find pictures in magazines that show things that you like.  Cut them out and paste them to your body outline.  These could be anything from pictures of animals to computer games, cars or musical groups.
5. Draw your face, shoes, etc. using pencil crayons or crayons.  You might also with to glue pieces of fabric onto your collage.
6. Hang your collage on a door.

Here at the Art Center we've modified this project a number of times for different lessons.  Once we outlined the kids and gave them fish tails to turn them into mermaids.  Another time, with older kids, we used it to do a lesson about bacteria and germs.   They filled their outlines with different "bugs" in their organs like stomachs and intestines.  Sounds gross, but they had a blast!  There is something immediately enjoyable about a project that allows for laying on the floor on a giant piece of paper...