Create a collage with your kids

September 2021 – The children have already sat at the school desks and classes are in full swing. When we remember our school days ourselves, we certainly first remember the subjects we enjoyed and could hardly wait for them to show up on the schedule. One was definitely fine art, where we drew and created all sorts of things. One of them was a collage.

If you have no idea what to create with your kids this season, making a collage is the answer. Gluing is an artistic technique in which a work of art is created by gluing various pieces of paper, textiles, thin plastic and similar materials. Selected materials can be cut or torn. When making a collage, we most often come across two techniques; the classic gluing of different coloured papers and gluing already printed images from magazines, newspapers, advertisements and similar materials.

We can create paper collages in a variety of ways. Different kind of paper can be cut randomly, or specific things can be cut out, or it can be even ripped & glued to paper, canvas or an object, in layers, randomly or to create a specific design. There are endless possibilities with paper collages, anything goes. We mostly use materials such as paper, cardboard, various foils, cardboard, leaves and the like.

Creating a collage is actually a very simple and fun way to be creative with your children, regardless of their age. At the same time, you do not need a lot of prior knowledge or materials to create the final product. Before you start, prepare coloured papers, photos, newspapers, advertisements or other materials that you want to use. You don’t have to limit yourself to paper materials, you can also use cotton wool, cloths, napkins, various foils, plastic and the like, as well as beautiful dried-up tree-leaves of various shapes in the autumn.

Before you start, it is necessary to choose a suitable substrate on which to glue the selected materials into a unique image. The substrate should be a little stronger in case if you decide to work with textiles or heavier materials. If you are going to create with coloured papers or colour collage or already printed images from newspapers, magazines and similar printed matter, then drawing paper of any dimensions will suffice. However, if you opt for different materials such as buttons, seeds and the like, you can also choose a canvas as a base.

To make a collage with your children, in addition to the selected substrate and the material that you will tear and then glue to the substrate, you need glue that will bond the materials onto the substrate. If you are going to create with younger children, help them tear or cut the paper or any material into pieces. It will be easier if the pieces they glue together are larger. To make it easier for children to orient themselves when creating, you can use a pencil to draw the outline of any motif on which the children then stick the pieces of any material. Also, help younger children to apply the glue to the material. Older children can tear or cut out selected materials themselves when creating the collage, which they then stick to the substrate. The shape of the torn or cut materials will add an extra touch of uniqueness to the product that you will create.

With Neostik AQUA BOND UNIVERSAL adhesive you will effectively stick your collage pieces on the substrate. The adhesive is water-based and environmentally friendly. It can be used to glue paper, cardboard and carton. The remains of glue are easily washed by hand with lukewarm water. Neostik AQUA BOND EXPRESS binds faster, which means that it allows you to create your collage even faster.

When making a collage, you can also use coloured felt-tip pens or crayons with which children can additionally draw, colour or write. You can also transform a collage made on a small substrate dimension into a unique greeting card. In doing so, you can help your children cut out materials into specific shapes that you choose according to the purpose of the greeting card. For easier cutting, use cutting stencils with which you can cut out specific shapes from (coloured) paper, such as hearts, circles, spruces and similar. The children then stick the cut-out shapes on a drawing paper or similar heavier paper. You can also glue buttons, foils and natural materials, such as beautiful autumn leaves for an enhanced image.

Once your kid has perfected his skills in making a classic collage, you can encourage him for a more challenging task to use also other, more demanding materials.

Neostik UNIVERSAL TRANSPARENT is a transparent universal adhesive, especially suitable for general use at school, at home and in the office, as well as in modeling. We recommend it for gluing materials where you want the glue stains to be less visible, especially for gluing paper, cardboard, and carton. In addition to the already mentioned materials, Neostik UNIVERSAL TRANSPARENT also effectively glues leather, fabrics, cork and even stone.