Wallpaper

I know this isn't a new idea, but it's a first for me. Several students have shown up in my collage classes with out-of-date wallpaper books to use the colors and patterns in collages. A couple of weeks ago I stopped at a paint store nearby looking for paint chips and it dawned on me to ask if they had any old wallpaper books lying around. In the past it seemed that school teachers always grabbed them up and I could never get them. I got lucky and found three with contemporary designs for homes and two great big ones full of stuff for kids. Jenna and I had a ball today with these. She picked out pages she wanted and we took them to her special art place, where she drew colored pictures on the back of border prints that could be folded into fun cards for her friends. We cut out some of the designs for her to play with--a necklace, ring, bracelet and watch. We tore out a rainbow and cut a border to paste onto another bigger page. She took about half of her treasures home and left the rest to play with next time--but the books are filled with more pictures, so will be useful for awhile. It was great fun and I recommend it to parents and grandparents for an inexpensive, engaging activity for toddlers who love picture-making.