The Mixed-Up Chameleon Collaborative Collage

Our Author of the month is none other than insanely creative artist Eric Carle. Carle's books are known for their vibrant collages, made by painting tissue paper, cutting out shapes, & pasting them together. Eric Carle’s art is distinctive & instantly recognizable. Since all of his art has a playful quality we decided to let the children get inspired by his illustrations for one of our art pieces in our upcoming art show. 

After reading the story about the Mixed-Up Chameleon we set an invitation to create our own chameleon with similar techniques just like Eric Carle. To set this multi layer art invitation we provided different types of canvases & paint to create. 

1st, the children were invited to do dropper painting with Colorations liquid watercolors on Texas snowflake filters. 

2nd, the children were invited to paint with fluorescent paint on card stock paper. 

3rd, the children were invited to finger paint with tempera paint on construction paper. 

After the paper dried, we cut them up into different shapes & sizes. The next day we invited them to collaboratively paste them together on the chameleon. 

Collage art work is a great way to develop the fine motor skills, learn about different colors/textures/patterns, develop communication + language skills, work collaboratively, by sharing materials, tools & projects, develop concentration skills, practice problem-solving, be creative, as they experiment with different materials, techniques & designs of their own making. Collage art encourages children to, ‘See the beauty in ordinary things and appreciate the possibilities of everyday objects.' The process of selecting materials & making independent choices feels good for young children and, all in all, collage invitations supports  little one's development & sparks their creativity.