Colorful Fall Collage Art with Toddlers

Inside: Put together a colorful fall collage art activity while teaching your toddlers how to use glue. Simple and fun!

Creating collages is one of the simplest types of art!

Not only are collages open-ended, but they also encourage creativity while strengthening fine motor skills.

This particular collage is perfect for your fall theme because it includes colors we see in leaves during that season.

After a nature walk, pointing out the various colors, invite your toddlers to learn how to work with glue while creating collages with torn pieces of construction paper.

We love process art.

I’ve mentioned this numerous times in my website and my videos.

When you give your toddlers assorted materials with little instructions – meaning there is no “right way” – you are encouraging them to make their own decisions as to how the final product will look.

But truly, it’s not even the final product that matters.

With process art it’s all about the … PROCESS!

The actual actions that take place while creating the art.

While I think all children benefit from process art, I think it’s especially important for toddlers, who truly love art activities, not necessarily the final result.

Colorful Fall Collage Art Activity with Toddlers

What you will need:

• Torn pieces of construction paper in a variety of fall colors
• Glue bottles
• Rollers or brushes (optional)
• Your choice of construction paper (we used yellow) for the background
• Trays to put the torn paper in

Preparation:

Set out a sheet of construction paper at each spot, along with a container of torn construction paper pieces, bottles of white glue, rollers or brushes.

You can see our set up in the photo above.

Beforehand:

Before starting this collage activity, go on a nature walk and observe the different colors in the trees. You could even collect leaves from the ground and take them back to the classroom to explore.

During circle time, read some books about fall:

Invitation to Create the Fall Collage Art Activity

When it’s time to start the fall collage art activity, have your children gather at the table.

Have them squirt glue around their paper.

If this is your toddlers’ first time using glue bottles, you will want to show them how to turn the bottle upside down and squeeze with both hands. For most toddlers, the stream of glue probably won’t be very strong, but keep your eye on it. Otherwise there might be quite a bit of glue on the paper! (They absolutely love the process of squeezing glue!)

They will often keep the glue bottle in one spot, so I tell them to “make the glue dance” as they move it all around.

Once they have enough glue, remove the bottle and they can then distribute the glue on the paper with a roller or a brush.

Or, you could skip this part altogether and they can just press the pieces onto the lines of glue.

Benefits of Squeezing Glue

There was a time I would never have given a toddler a bottle of glue, but after giving it a try, the benefits far outweigh any mess, as long as you keep an eye on it.

As the hands and fingers wrap around the glue bottle and squeeze, so much fine motor strengthening is taking place.

This is important for future writing, as well as self-help skills such as buttoning, zipping, etc.

Hand-eye coordination is tasking place as well while the bottle is being directed around the paper.

Note: Once your bottles of glue are empty, refill them using gallon jugs of glue. This is much more economical than buying more small bottles!

Adding the Collage Pieces

Once the glue is on the paper, it’s time to add the torn pieces of construction paper.

It might take your toddlers awhile to understand that the pieces will only stick to where the glue has been applied.

If they press on an area without glue, show them how the pieces will fall off.

They can add as little or as much torn pieces as they want, that will fit on top of the paper.

When finished, let dry.

That’s it!

Easy and fun!

More Ideas for Toddlers

Leaf Painting in a Bag

Fruits and Vegetables Water Table Activity

Dinosaur Tracks Process Art