We had a lovely day at the Eric Carle Museum last week. We joined the museum in celebrating Mr. Carle's 80th Birthday and the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We saw an exhibit on that book -- how the idea was initially conceived all the way through publishing. The kids saw all the changes made along the way, how the end result was quite different from the initial idea. Our Very Hungry Caterpillar was initially titled A Worm Named Willie! We saw a lovely water-color exhibit featuring the works of EH Sheppard, the illustrator of Winnie the Pooh and works by Hillary Knight (of Eloise fame), Kevin Henkes and many, many others. The kids participated in a scavenger hunt of sorts as they searched for various picture book art related items hidden within the exhibitions.

From the galleries we wandered in to the gigantic art room and the kids spent about an hour in there embarking on their own Eric Carle collages. Interesting, was that they used liquid starch instead of glue as their adhesive. Its' consistency is a lot like water and it won't ruin sponges and surfaces. It was great and easy to work with. Of course it was hard to tear away from the art room, but there was still the gift shop to hit ($$$$$!!!!) and a long ride home.

We loved making the collages and will do so again.

What you will need to make your own Eric Carle Collages

Tissue paper scraps of all colors and patterns
Heavy weight paper, such as watercolor paper
Liquid starch, poured into a dish
Paintbrush
Scissors to cut shapes out of tissue paper

You can begin any way you wish. Either start by cutting out specific shapes or randomly paste various shapes on to your paper. We were pretty abstract in our art, but Rebecca did make a picture of a goldfish swimming in a blue sea. All were beautiful and I cannot wait to frame them!

This would be a great rainy day craft, perfect for all ages, paired along with a couple of Mr. Carle's books!