The Tiny Seed : Eric Carle Inspired Art

I did this project with a group of Kindergartners in our co-op as a part of an Eric Carle author study. We spent some time looking through his books, talking about his collage technique using painted sheets of tissue paper, and seeing how he does it in his studio (in The Art of Eric Carle - great book from our library). Then we tried our own version of the flower that grew from The Tiny Seed.

First, we needed to paint several sheets of paper. I used acrylic paint on copy paper to have a sturdier paper for the kids to cut. Will and I did all the painting beforehand because there wouldn't be enough time during the class.

We brought the painted paper to class and starting cutting. A few kids added bugs, butterflies, and grass to their collage based on the pictures in book. Then we glued our flower to the white paper. This was my example...


Will's finished collage...
I used the leftover paper to make a "mat" behind Will's paper. And now I have his bright and fun flower hanging in the kitchen.

More Eric Carle resources:
The Official Eric Carle Site
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art