Eric Carle is one of the most well-known children’s authors, as he has given us favorites such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Tiny Seed, The Very Busy Spider, From Head to Toe, and more. He illustrates his books using a beautiful style of collage, and we would like to invite children to recreate it!
Set up Time: 5 minutes
Directions
- Gather together paint, paintbrushes, and paper. You can use the back of recycled paper if you have it!
- Invite children to mix paints freely on paper and to mix a few different colors to make a two or three-toned swirl. For example, we mixed: green and white; orange, red, and yellow; blue and green; yellow and red. Let your pages dry.
- When your paint is dry, either the adult can cut out shapes to make a specific part of a story (e.g. the flower in the Tiny Seed), or children can snip their own collage pieces to practice cutting.
Materials
- Paper
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Scissors
Tip
An adult created the art that you see in the photos here, so they might look a bit cleaner than a child’s work might. We say that to remind caregivers to enjoy the process with children, not just the end product. Enjoy swirling the paint, cutting the collage pieces, and discovering what you can create when you embrace imperfection. This activity can take place over a few days, and if children enjoy a particular part of the process, we invite you to slow down and explore that process even more.
Learning Through Play
Cognitive: Planning – What is the process of writing a book? Put yourself in the shoes of an author and illustrator to think through your design. What kind of story would you tell if you were an author? By celebrating the works of specific authors, this allows children to see the process of an expert, recreate it, and see what it is like to be the one creating something that is beloved by children all around the world.
Social-Emotional: Self-Regulation – When we did this activity, we noticed that it invited mindfulness in quite a natural way. There is something so beautiful about observing how the colors swirl, the dark and light tones, and feeling like an artist when you put a final product together. Use this as an opportunity to work with children to create a piece of art over a few days and feel like an illustrator themselves.
School Readiness: Love of Books – Take a trip to the library to check out a few different books written by Eric Carle and see if you can spot similarities. In addition to the type of illustration, Eric Carle likes to write books about animals, nature, and growing. Also, often the books have a moral or life lesson in their story. Talk to children about what we can learn from these stories and how we can apply it to our own lives.
See this activity in the Rayz Kidz app, along with the other fun hands-on activities. Rayz Kidz is your trusted source for play-based activities featuring over 100 themes and 500+ hands-on activities and clear descriptions of the beautiful learning that is happening through play.
