Scavenger Collage

This is a fun thing to do with a range of age groups.
You will need: a basket or container for collecting things with.
PVA or other strong craft glue
Thick paper/card

Go for a walk through your local environment (this works well in your own back yard, or preschool garden. You can also collect things in parks/beach, but be careful in environments you aren’t familiar with).

Explore the environment – what can you find? what did you find that you didn’t expect to? What did you find that you did expect to? Look at the tiny details, as well as the huge things in your environment.

Collect some things that you could use in a collage. Remind children that we should never pick things directly from trees, but instead pick up dried leaves, twigs, and grasses. You might be lucky and find feathers or cicada shells.

Come home and make a collage with all the things that you found. Some things might be a bit hard to stick down, but a dollop of glue and a few hours should work.

It's important to remember that it's not about creating a pretty picture (though older children may be interested in doing that). This is about exploring, discovering the things in your environement you didn't realise were there, it about exploring the properties of the items we collected and, of course, the fun of glueing (Most toddlers I know are in heaven when you given them a glue pot and paint brush!).

Come join in the fun at We play at Childhood 101.