Tissue Paper Art Inspired by Eric Carle

This month’s featured author for the Virtual Book Club for Kids is Eric Carle! I think most children {and adults} recognize his art. His books are great for babies and toddlers with their bright colors and simple text. They make for great early readers for older kids. We love so many of them. We were inspired by 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo to make some tissue paper art. Affiliate links are included in this post.

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle

1, 2, 3 to the Zoo is a wordless picture book. Count the animals on the train as they make their way to the zoo. Talk about animal names and make their sounds. Count the number of train cars at the bottom of each page. Can you find the little mouse on each page? We love to make up stories about the animals on the train and about the people at the zoo as well.

Tissue Paper Art

Eric Carle paints his own tissue paper to get the interesting textures and colors. To create his art, he draws an illustration on tracing paper and then uses the tracing paper as a template to cut out pieces of tissue paper. Check out this slide show on his website to see how it’s done.

To create our art, we made a tissue paper collage. Aiden chose one of the animals from 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo – a hippo. I asked him if he wanted to try drawing the hippo. He said no, so we traced it instead. Here’s how you can make your own animal art like we did.

Supplies Needed:

• Various colors of tissue paper
• Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue {white school glue}
• Bowl/lid/etc. for the glue
• Paint brush

1. Draw or trace the animal/object of your choice. {We did this on white computer paper, but other paper types and colors would work, too.} Cut out your drawing.
2. Choose your tissue paper colors for the collage. Cut the tissue into small pieces.
   
3. Add glue to a bowl or lid.
4. Using a paint brush, spread some glue onto your cut out drawing.
5. Add tissue paper to the glue.
6. Apply glue over the tissue paper to help it stay.
7. Keep adding glue and tissue paper to create your collage.
   
8. Allow the glue to dry.
9. Trim away any tissue paper that may have gone over the edges.
10. Glue your collage to another piece of paper. {We used black cardstock.}

I helped Aiden add the mouth to his hippo and I trimmed the edges.

Here’s our finished piece.

Aiden wants to create a heart, volcano, and owl next.

What would your children make?

Virtual Book Club for Kids Co-Hosts

Here are the blogs co-hosting the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Be sure to see what Eric Carle books and activities they chose. 

Toddler Approved– The Educators’ Spin On It– Rainy Day Mum– 3 Dinosaurs– Learn~Play~Imagine – Crafty Moms Share – Reading Confetti– Inspiration Laboratories – Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas – Kids Yoga Stories – Enchanted Homeschooling Mom– Ready-Set-Read – Boy Mama Teacher Mama – PlayDrMom – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Growing Book by Book– Royal Baloo – The Outlaw Mom® Blog – Kitchen Counter Chronicles – Teach Preschool – Mama Smiles – Coffe Cups and Crayons – Juggling With Kids – Here Come the Girls

Now it’s your turn! Link up your posts about a Eric Carle book you read and your related activity {project, craft, recipe, etc.}.