It’s fun to do art with kids, but when you talk about art with them… crayons and paint are usually the first things that come to mind. Nothing wrong with that, but there’s still so much more ways to do art then just the usual. Which is why I’m glad I came across Henry Matisse!
Henry Matisse was a well known artist, he was good in both painting and sculpting! But as he reached the age of 72, it became difficult for him to stand and paint. However, instead of giving up his art, he found new ways to continue it, and that’s when he first tried painting with scissors. Now there are a variety of ways to go about this, as you don’t need to do it EXACTLY like Matisse did. This is how ours went.
What you will need
- Scissors
- Glue
- Different colors of construction paper
- Bond paper
What you will do:
Step 1: For the older kids, you can ask them to cut their own shapes. But for our toddlers, holding a pair of scissors is still a bit difficult. So what we did was to give them some circle, square and rectangular shapes and let them cut those instead. That way, there would be different edges to what they cut.
Step 2: After they’re done cutting, have them glue it on a separate piece of paper. For the toddlers, don’t forget to keep the conversation going as they glue the papers. You’d be amazed to hear the stories in their head as to why they are placing the shapes in that manner.
Step 3: Display their works of art!
“An alligator is swimming in the water. Then, there’s a tree and there’s a snake on the tree!”
(The blue shapes represent the water, the shape above it is the alligator. The cutout with the green paper is the tree and the shape above it is the snake)
“That’s Daddy and Mommy! Mommy is wearing long pants and Daddy is wearing shorts only. Mommy has lots of long hair and Daddy only has one!”
“There’s a shark outside the house and it’s knocking on the door! I hide inside the house so that shark will not get me”
(The black and blue shapes on the left is the shark. The yellow rectangle is the door –notice the pink doorknob? The yellow circle is the sun)
