Eco-Friendly Multimedia Collage

What You Need:

• Flat sheet of cardboard reused from an old moving, packing, cereal, shoe, or cracker box
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Clear drying, non-toxic glue
• Variety of household items to reuse such as old magazines, soda bottle tops, newspapers, fabric scraps, or even old art projects
• Tempera paint and paint brush (optional; look for environmentally friendly, non-toxic paint)

What You Do:

1. Think up an Earth Day image with your child such as the Earth, a tree or flower, or a favorite animal. When he thinks about the Earth, what images come to mind?
2. Once he has his image, have your child draw an outline of it on the cardboard with the pencil.
3. Now it's time to fill in your collage. Ask your child what colors, textures, and shapes he'll need for his chosen image. If he's making a picture of Earth, for example, he'll need a lot of blue and green shapes. Have him cut up the household items into the sizes and shapes he'll need and arrange them on the collage.
4. Once his collage is laid out, help him glue the shapes down.
5. Set the collage aside to dry.
6. Once the glue is dry, have your child add paint to his collage, if using.