Box Collage 2014

The class of 2014's version of the Box Collage

The class of 2014's version of the Box Collage.

Last year I saw these fantastic box collages on the Sophia Preschool's Facebook page & I just knew this was a project I could easily do with my nursery class.

The original idea from The Sophia Preschool.

I loved some of the long term art projects that go on over at Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School (TPCNS) - you can follow their art adventures on their Child Art Retrospective blog. Having chatted over the logistics of storing long term art pieces with Lesley from TPCNS, I knew that this was a sticking point for me but the boxes seemed perfect as they could be stored inside each other between layers. They proved to be a big success last year so we decided to make them a regular event.

In September every child brought in an empty cereal box & after using sand paper to key the surface, the children began to add a different layer to them every month or so. The first time they just painted them, then they added some tissue paper, then some tin foil, then more tissue paper & finally some jewels, buttons & feathers.  You can read some more of the process in this previous post over here.

What I love about this project is that it is totally child led, each child does as much or as little as they want & yet at the end each box is uniquely gorgeous with it's many different layers. Some children will take an hour over this, carefully smearing PVA glue all over th box & then gently adding the materials whilst others will spend 10-15 minutes haphazardly sticking the offered materials on & yet when up on the wall for the last month, they all look stunning. (Even if I do say so myself).