With all the lovely weather recently we have been outside a lot. Even if it’s just the back garden we’ve found all sorts of birds, animals, plants and insects to look at and learn about. With this in mind, I saved up some pictures from magazines and leaflets of things we’ve seen out and about (and a few things that just looked pretty!). We then used these pictures to create lovely nature themed collages!

Equipment;

– Plastic activity mat.
– Old clothes or aprons.
– Paint pots.
– Cotton buds.
– PVA glue.
– Different coloured paints (water based, non toxic).
– Pictures cut out from magazines/leaflets/card/sequin animals and flowers.
– Card.
– Wipes.

Step 1; Preparation;

Keep an eye out in magazines/leaflets/newspapers for any pictures of things you may have seen out and about – such as birds, ladybirds, bees, ducks, flowers etc. Then cut these out and save them up. When you have enough it’s time to make your nature collage.

I like to put the PVA glue into pots and then mix some paint in as it adds some bright colours to your collage rather than just cleared dry glue. We call it “sticky paint”. An older child can help do this bit!

I set the table up with the plastic activity mat, “sticky paint”, cotton buds (for glue spreading) and card. I then put the pictures onto plates so my son could see them all.

Step 2: Get sticking!!

We have completed quite a few sticking activities together so my son knows to put the “sticky paint” on first then choose the pictures to put on the top. However, if this is new to your child you may want to demonstrate first and I’m sure they’ll then copy you.

As well as getting nice and messy this activity was really good for recognition and word finding skills too – with each picture my son stuck on he would try to name it first and if he didn’t know what it was then he’d ask so he’d then be learning new words.

My son decided his toy horse needed to get in on the action towards the end of the activity and so he made some footprints across the collage – made me think of a new MAMA idea to try out later!

Step 3: Tidy, tidy, tidy up!

We put our collages aside to dry and the reusable items into soak (I then cleaned them properly later).

Good thing about this activity is that you get to peel off the dried glue from your fingers! Also may require a good wash or bath depending how into the activity your child gets! The toy horse also required washing which kept my son occupied for quite along time – another little activity to do again in the future “animal bath time”!

So now you have some beautiful nature collages to display and keep. Don’t forget to share any of your creations with us and follow us at http://www.megaawesomemessyart.com and on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!