We make lots of collages at our house – mostly out of stickers, paper scraps and magazine cutouts. While creating collages is usually about the process itself – exploring shapes, colors, textures and developing fine motor skills – today’s collage activity gave our glueing and sticking a greater purpose: making placemats.

I started out by cutting tree, butterfly, flower and leave shapes and creating a “starter placemat” with grass and a tree. I let Jason and Jenna select shapes and attach them to their placemat. After the glue dried, I used clear contact paper to cover both sides.

Here’s the starter placemat:

Nature Collage: Getting Started

Here is the finished product:

Jenna's Collage Placemat

Jason's Collage Placemat