All TLC art lessons provide a list of materials needed in specific colors and sizes. The success of lessons relies on having accurately measured materials in a quantity that meets your class' needs and allows a margin for errors. Use a paper trimmer to cut paper into long strips then half the strips to create squares and rectangles. Remember, all trimmers have a limit to the number of paper they can cut at one time. Respect this limit. Pushing the trimmer beyond limitations will dull the blade and result in jagged shapes.
Prepare students for TLC art lessons by teaching them how to cut shapes. They will need to know how to fold and cut shapes in half, make a square into a circle, remove select edges and, most importantly, follow directions. The TLC books refer to these cuts as "oval cut" or "hill cut." You may use these terms or make up your own.
Cut a white rectangle in half with a wavy line cut. Glue the rectangle to the lower half of a sheet of colored paper. This forms the bed skirt. Cut four or five colored rectangles in half to form strips. Glue the strips above the bed skirt to make the stack of mattresses. Glue two strips to either side of the mattress stack as bed posts. Round the edges of a rectangle and cut it in half to form two hills. Glue the hills to the base of the bed posts as feet. Glue two circles, rounded squares, to the top of the bed posts as finials. Cut a larger circle and glue it on the top mattress as the princess' head. Cut rounded strips from a rectangle as hair. Add a small green circle, a pea, in the stack of mattresses.
Draw a circus background on a white sheet of paper. Holding a magenta rectangle horizontally, cut off the top corners to make a trapezoid. This is the elephant's stool. Round all four edges of a large gray rectangle for the body. Round two edges of a smaller rectangle to form a blanket. Remove the corners of a gray square to form the head. Round off the edges of a gray rectangle and cut it in half to form the ears. Glue four rectangles to the bottom of the body, opposite the blanket, to form legs. Glue a rectangle to the center of the face as the trunk. Embellish with hand-drawn details such as eyes and toenails.