Holiday Art // Christmas Tree Assemblage

These beautiful and original Christmas trees were made by the four-year olds in art class! Aren’t they amazing? They loved learning the word “assemblage”, which is basically like collage except you you do more than just glueing. You can do anything to hold pieces together, like wrapping or weaving or cutting. It involves picking up your piece and twisting it around a lot. Once the kids understood the concept, they really got into it.

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Supplies needed:

To make trees: cardboard box // sharp scissors // temera paints // brushes

Assemblage materials (choose all or just some): straws // striped paper straws // pony beads // feathers // yarn // wire // pipe cleaners // pom-poms // elmer’s glue or glitter glue // colored tape // small scissors

Process:

1. Start by cutting out tree shaped triangles. Put out some holiday-ish colored paints (I put out green, teal, pink and red) and let them paint them however they want. Let dry overnight. (Sorry, I didn’t photograph this part!)

2. Gather your assemblage materials and organize them in bowls or a tray. I used these very handy painter’s palettes.

3. Demonstrate on a scrap triangle how you can use tape to hold down the yarn, then wrap it. Or perhaps you can use pipe cleaners to stick through the cardboard, and then add beads. Just introduce the ideas without telling them what to do. They just need to visualize the possibilities! This will be a new experience for them.

4. When the wrapping looks like it’s done, you can bring out the glue. I usually wait until halfway through to bring out the glue, otherwise it can get very messy. Gluey hands make work difficult.

5. Lastly, if you want, you can bring out gold paint or even glitter!

This project has so many different applications. You can put out any shape, really, and any materials and have them practice assemblage. It’s just fun because it’s completely process oriented.

I hope you try!

xo, Bar