Easy DIY Collage Art Project For Kids

From trash to treasure - making art from recyclables is a whole lot of fun and easy too! Make Earth day or any day special by making these cool torn newspaper puppy portraits.

Being a good steward to our planet is all of our responsibility. Instilling this into your children from early on will result in people who care and are concerned for the well being of our planet and the natural resources around us.

Recycling and taking care of the planet doesn't have to be drudgery - why not incorporate some fun into an important job? 

Using recyclable materials like newspaper, cans, bottles and empty cereal boxes is an easy way to engage your child in a creative and fun activity all while showing them how to reuse items found around the house for different purposes instead of tossing them into the trash bin.

There are tons of great ideas for creating art from recyclable goods so narrowing it down to one project to do with my kids was a tough task. 

We ended us making newspaper puppy portraits! 

They turned out amazing. This is a fun project for any age and requires only simple household supplies. See below the pictures for instructions on how to make your own.

Here are some pictures of our final projects:

Recycled Newspaper Puppy Print Artwork For Kids

Aren't they cute! Want to make your own? Here is what you need to get started:

1. Newspaper 

2. Thick paper - like cardstock, any size

3. Glue stick

4. Colored paper - construction paper or colorful cardboard/cereal boxes. We even discovered that our brown grocery bags had great print to use like barcodes and store logos.

5. Scissors

Instructions:

To begin find sections in the newspaper with unique print such as word searches, sudoku games and sections with lots of printed text. Then cut out some simple shapes such as circles, ovals and rectangles. 

Since we have a range of ages in our family (5 yrs to teen) I used the time to teach shapes to the younger kids while letting the older ones make their own shapes.

After cutting out the main body shapes a puppy arrange the newspaper shapes on the large piece of cardstock to look like a dog's body. Once the newspaper pieces are arranged glue them to the card stock.

Next use the construction paper, cereal boxes and grocery bags to make the ears, face, legs and tails for your puppy dog. I had my kids cut out different shapes, placed them on the dog body and rearranged them until they were happy with how the dog was looking. Glue these pieces to the puppy dog body and "walla" the little dog is done. 

Don't you think they turned out "frame-worthy"? Definitely going to be framing these cute puppies!

My kids really enjoyed this project and so did I! I think we will be doing this again in the future maybe making different animals next time - like zebras or giraffes. 

I would love to hear how this project worked out for you and what kind of animals you made. Please leave me a comment (and picture) of your final project. New ideas are always welcome!!

More Nature Inspired Recycling Arts & Craft Projects:

Secret Garden Crafts - 10 Nature Inspired Projects

Looking for more recycling arts and craft projects to do with your kids for Earth Day? I am happy to offer you this great ebook that has 10 fun nature inspired craft projects I'm sure your kids will love doing! You can find the ebook, Secret Garden Crafts - 10 Nature Inspired Projects on Amazon.

Click here to find this ebook.