Life Size Collage People

This project surprised me. I didn't have a clue where these were going when I started. I love that they came out looking very Eric Carle inspired. The idea sprung from Lulu's recent obsession with having herself measured and wanting to know if she grew. I thought, why not trace her and then she can measure herself! Well the minute I started tracing Lulu, Emme wanted to be traced too. I was happy to see she is starting to become interested in our projects. After I traced the girls I couldn't stand the look of the police outline body. So out came the paint and roller. Lulu loved using the paint roller! I had her pick colors (we have been talking a lot about color families and warm and cool colors.) She told me what colors she wanted and where to squirt the paint. I reminded her as she worked that we didn't want to see any white spots. Lulu was so excited to cut out and decorate her "Lulu" I don't know if she could have waited overnight for the paint to dry. Luckily we started this project in the morning and the paint was dry after lunch.

Age: 3+ with help from adult
Level: Easy
Materials: Marker & Pencil
Large roll of paper
Small Paint Roller
Paint
Glue
Scissors

Step 1: Tape down large piece of paper. Trace body with pencil. Have child move and outline (fixing your lines as you go) with a dark marker.
Step 2: Squirt paint directly onto paper. Try to pick colors in the same color family so you don't end up with brown. You can see what happened when the cool and warm colors over lapped in our example. Let child roll out paint, adding colors and mixing the colors as she goes. Be sure to paint the paper around the body too. You will need that for cutting out the hair, features and any clothes you may want to add.

Step 3: Let dry. Cut out. Decorate. I cut out the pieces and let Lulu glue them down. Older kids can do this step on their own. We just chose to use the extra painted paper but you could also use fabric, yarn... Lulu wanted to add cheeks. I think that is what makes the faces.

We hung ours on our storm door. I think they look so cute and welcoming there! I love this project because any age child can do this and make it their own. An older child might like to make theirs more realistic. I have to say I love how these came out! If we had extra painted paper I would have added wings to the girls. Emme's especially came out very fairy nymph like.