Summer BoostCraft a Red Nosed Reindeer Collage
Christmas is a time of celebration, but it can also provide an opportunity to learn. Regale your child with the famous Christmas story of the red nosed reindeer, and then segue into a fun paper and glue art project. Construct a portrait of the beloved red nosed reindeer with your child using shapes such as circles, rectangles, triangles, and more. This Rudolph collage will facilitate a discussion about basic math concepts such as geometry, shapes, and the part to whole relationship. Additionally, this activity can easily be used as a lesson in color recognition, the narrative process, or animals.
What You Need:
- Construction paper (brown, red, white, black, and any additional desired colors)
- Glue
- Scissors
- Red pom pom
What You Do:
- First, entertain your child with the story of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer from a well-illustrated book. Ask your child to look at the illustrations, and discuss what shapes can be found in the face and body of the reindeer.
- Help your child cut out shapes from the construction paper to build the reindeer with. Begin with the brown paper and create a face, body, and legs. If needed, use a shape stencil or other items to trace the shapes. The bottom of a drinking cup is a good size for the head. The body can either be a rectangle or an oval, and the legs can be long rectangles. If your child can find different shapes in the reindeer, go ahead and use those as well!
- Help your child to cut out small shapes for the ears (triangles) and eyes (circles).
- Ask your child to form the reindeer by gluing shapes together on a separate piece of construction paper. For a larger reindeer, try a piece of poster board. Compare this to putting together a puzzle.
- Add the red nose. Your child can use a red pom pom to create a bright nose for Rudolph. Have him place a dab of glue in the middle of the reindeer’s face, and then firmly press the red pom pom on top.
Brighten Christmas morning by giving this colorful collage to a special family member or friend! Or, simple hang your child's creation up for a festive holiday display.
