In French, the word "collage" means "to glue"; this also indicates what should be first on your material list. Glue sticks create no mess and easily adhere to most paper materials, although a hot glue gun -- handled by an adult -- works best for bulkier items like buttons or flowers. At a minimum, you'll need magazines rich with photographs and illustrations, such as "National Geographic," as well as art magazines and expired calendars. For optimum creativity, kids also can use markers, glitter, stickers and embellishments such as feathers, ribbon, yarn and rubber stamps. Possible bases for collages include poster board, shoeboxes and paper bags.
Ideal beginner projects for children should be basic and contain themes with which they're familiar. For example, children just learning their letters can use magazine photographs of people, places or things that start with their favorite letter. Other projects can be modified for older kids to focus on current events, literature or science. Found objects -- including flowers, leaves and insects found on a nature hike -- adds one-of-a-kind beauty to art pieces.
For a mixed-media project, you can use ready-made masks -- available at arts and crafts stores -- or create your own by cutting poster board to custom-fit each child’s face. Imaginations run wild as children choose photographs of eyes, ears, noses and mouths, with yarn or feathers serving as hair for silly faces or even puppets. Photographs and found objects from home turn shoeboxes into memory collage keepsakes, or children can use digital photos to create collage art on a computer.
Before class, you need enough time to prepare the lesson plan and display appropriate materials within reach of each child. A sample collage can serve as inspiration, but younger children often need extra help finding appropriate images as well as grouping and gluing them together on paper. If projects take more than one class period, each child will need an envelope or craft box to store images for next time.