Easy Toddler Winter Art Collage

Inside: Create an easy toddler winter art activity using scraps of leftover pieces. A fun process art idea that also strengthens fine motor skills!

Our toddlers love to paint.

We make sure to have some sort of painting activity available each day, sometimes multiple times.

During our snow and ice theme I decided to mix up some 2-ingredient puffy paint (recipe below) and raid my scraps bin for anything that was blue, white, and silver.

I unrolled some tin foil, cut it into sections for 10 children, and used blue paper as the backing.

The result was a super fun, super easy toddler winter art activity that was completely open-ended.

Let’s hear it for process art!

Easy Toddler Winter Art Collage

• Tin foil
• White glue
• Shaving cream
• Blue paper
• Scraps of anything that are white, blue and silver

Prepping this activity:

Cut tinfoil so that it’s a bit smaller than the blue paper and glue it on top.

Place small pieces in a container.

How to make puffy glue:

This is super easy and our kiddos love using it!

Pour some white glue into a container and add shaving cream, roughly the same amount.

Mix it up and it’s ready to go!

Step 1:

Invite your toddlers to use a paintbrush to mix the glue and shaving cream mixture.

You could do this ahead of time, but I’ve found toddlers love the mixing part!

Then, have them brush the puffy glue onto the tinfoil.

They might even want to explore the feeling of the puffy glue on their hands, as it’s quite fun to touch.

Sensory loving toddlers will especially love the feel of this on their hands. You can place a damp cloth beside them if desired.

Note: If the glue mixture goes off the foil, no worries. There is no right or wrong.

Step 2:

Once the glue has been applied it’s time to add the collage pieces.

The thickness of the glue and shaving cream makes it easier for toddlers to feel where the pieces should go. As they press the pieces into the puffy glue, the mixture will give a bit.

Again, this is a great sensory experience for young children!

Step 3:

Let the collage completely dry.

The puffy glue will flatten a bit, but there will still be some texture.

My favorite part is displaying the children’s art on our walls. We love to decorate the classroom with their work!

And notice how each collage is different.

That’s what I love about process art!

More winter ideas:

15 Ice Activities

Winter Gross Motor Games

Wooden Snowflakes

Planning your toddler winter theme? We’ve done the work for you!

I’m so excited to be one of the 5 co-authors of an entire series of toddler lesson plans.

These winter lesson plans for toddlers focus on hands-on, multi-sensory, low-prep activities. This theme contains 20 activities designed to help you reach the skills for your toddler throughout the year. We’ve done the activity planning so you don’t have to!

Here’s a look at the skills covered in the lesson plans:

• Counting
• Pre-writing
• Literacy
• Social and Emotional Well Being
• Shapes
• Number Sense
• Music
• Gross-Motor
• Fine-Motor 
• and much more!

What you will find inside:

Skills: a detailed skills list to help you visualize the development in the activity.

Materials: Items to gather before doing the activity

How to: Best read before the activity is prepared to understand how to present it and have toddler engage in the activity.

Extensions: A place to see all the suggestions the teachers have made to take this activity a little further. Or make it simpler.

Modifications: Things that can be added or switched out in the activity.

CLICK HERE for more information!