Collage is both the term for the technique and the resulting artwork in which peices of paper, fabric, photographs and other emphemera are combined or (assemblaged) on another surface. It requires cutting and glueing which gives kids a chance to tinker and create. “Tinkering” and creating are important for the developent of children. Studies show that the more kids tinker, the better it is for their brain.

Collage is also a good way to teach one of the natural processes in creating art- revision. Artists constantly look at what they’ve created and make revisions until the final product matches the vision they had for the piece. Collage teaches that you can always tweak or re-do something by simply covering it up with another layer.

Collage is also a good medium to teach negative vs. positive space. The negative space or visual shapes created by the absence of the materials glued on are as important as the ones that are. Often times the orginal surface or first layer shows through. Creating a collage is looking at how the layers work together as a whole and how they visually interact with the original matting surface.