How am I supposed to teach the Elements of Art when I have no art budget? And why do I always resort to an entry level school drawing approach because I think I can’t afford anything other than pencil and paper projects?

Unfortunately, these are all too common questions among Art Educators. Supplies are expensive and time to come up with fresh new ideas is scarce. Fortunately, I have an answer that will leave both you and your students excited to dive in and get fabulous results for the cost of a simple glue stick.

When I was faced with 37 Art 1 students and no budget, I did what we as educators often do. I got creative and resourceful. I knew I wanted a lesson focused on the Elements of Art and I also knew I wanted the kids to have lots of individual choice in their art making. Enter Lowe’s Home Improvement – specifically the paint supply section. 

I stopped in on the way home and asked if they had any paint chip samples they could spare. The look on the guy’s face made me chuckle, it was pure joy. “Wait right here.” He returned with a box of at least 5,000 paint chip samples. Evidently, these things are in great supply, as the paint reps change them out frequently with new colors and pantones.

How to use Paper Collage as a Slam-Dunk Elements of Art Project

I came up with this simple project as a fun and engaging way to get beginner artists thinking on paper using artistic terms. After introducing the Elements of Art, the goal is to design a composition and cut, tear, and arrange the paint chips to convey their new knowledge of these artistic tools.

Young artists really enjoy a tactile learning experience. Anything involving cutting, tearing, pasting, is always a hit. With this in mind and with the Art Elements as my guide, I created a small paper collage lesson where kids could choose two Elements from the seven – Line, Shape, Color, Value, Form, Texture and Space – and create their own original collage based on these two elements.

We went with a random approach, they drew numbers out of a hat (each Art Element had a number) and their collage was based on those two Elements. They had a 6×9 surface to work on, so not too large and not intimidating. 

Collages could be representational or abstract, and the paper could be torn or cut (or both). 

View Resource:

Collage Art Project Elements of Art and Principles of Design Beginner Art Lesson

Organization and Accountability in the Art-Making Process

If I could offer any advice – get each student a ziploc style bag for their paint chips and their glue stick. Write their name on it with a Sharpie and pin each in progress collage with the ziploc bag to the board in between classes. This cuts down on storage and organization issues. 

The students really enjoy watching the collages come to life. Each day, when the work is up on the board, we all gather around and discuss color choices, design goals, and the success of the class as a whole. Accountability takes on a whole new level of excellence when the art process is on display.

Keeping an Elements of Art Poster on display during the project will help students talk using art terms as they examine the work of their classmates. Kids are more likely to participate in a class discussion with added support.

If you are new to teaching art or would like a refresh on your Elements of Art presentation, this one has student notes and a self-guided quiz at the end. My students love it, as they really get a sense for how a piece of art is constructed

Elements of Art and Principles of Design Card Decks are also a fan favorite – kids have all the information at their fingertips and can easily  access definitions and examples of related art pieces.

Elements & Principles of Art Presentation – MrsTFox Resources

Elements & Principles Card Decks – MrsTFox Resources

Getting Kids to Think Creatively – The Daily Challenge

Ok, so you have this great collage project and the kids have their two Art Elements – now what? How do we get them to come up with an idea? 

A twenty-minute Think, Pair, Share activity is one of my favorite classroom activities. Put the kids in groups of two with their planning sheet – their two elements are written at the top of the paper. Set the timer for 5 minutes. Their goal is to discuss potential art approaches and give their fellow artist two ideas for a collage composition before time is up.

Do this three more times, rotating the kids around the room and changing up their partner. By the time the twenty minutes is up, they have 8 ideas. This creates a foundation for them to work from. No more, “I can’t think of any ideas!” They can choose an idea or part of an idea from the list or combine ideas into a fresh approach..

At the end of the day, we want students to have a clear understanding of how to construct an artwork. What are the tools they need to use to bring their idea or message to fruition? For artists, the tools are line, shape, color, texture, form, value and space.

For the complete No Prep Elements & Principles Paper Collage Project click HERE

For further information on how to implement this and other foolproof classroom management strategies, check out Foolproof Fabulousness – my best-selling recorded online workshop for Art Educators! Complete with a Certificate of Completion and FOUR additional No Prep Mixed Media Projects! This is relevant and useful Art Teacher PD that works in your art room.

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