Art After Breakfast: Torn Paper Collage

I love to start the kids' day with art time...it gets their creative juices flowing and creates a bit of down time before my toddler's morning nap.

This morning we used Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar as our inspiration. We looked through it together and I pointed out how the pictures looked like a collage of different colored paper.

My 4 1/2 year-old son decided he wanted to make all of the junk food that the caterpillar ate through: "one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon."

Materials I provided:

• Our inspiration book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)

• Construction paper: 1 piece of each color

• White glue in a small cup and cotton swab applicator (he doesn't like to touch the glue...some kids don't like the feel of glue or paint on their fingers)

• One large piece of construction paper as the base

Even my 1 1/2-year-old participated. She loves using glue, but she struggled with tearing the paper, so I tore some pieces into different shapes and piled them up for her. I only gave her a tiny glob of glue at a time, since she likes to tip and pour her glue out. She has no qualms about using her finger in the glue. Each kid is so different!


This was a fun project for both of my preschoolers. It's easily adaptable for a variety of ages, so hopefully it works as well for you as it works for me!