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Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers

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Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers is an awesome way to introduce a really cool artist, as well as introduce some scissors practice! (Plus, I threw in some painting because kids love, love, love to paint.)

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Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers

 

How to: The Artwork

Supplies:

  • Canvas boards or cardstock (We used these 12×12 boards.)
  • Blue washable tempera paint and white washable tempera paint
  • White construction paper
  • Child-friendly scissors
  • Thin painter’s tape of masking tape

Directions:

Before the class, I put paint tape on the canvas boards in a grid with 9 squares. When the kids came, they started by cutting the white paper into any shapes the kids wanted. Then, the kids were able to mix the blue and the white to create different shades of blue, and they painted the entire board. After they finished painting, they peeled the tape off. Finally, they stuck their paper shapes onto the wet paint.

Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers

 
 

How To: The Program

My Young Artists class allows 2-5 year olds to explore art and engage the senses to help them understand the world around them. Exploring famous artists and their work allows kids to see that they are capable of making beautiful, creative artwork. Plus, exploring famous artists provides a unique way to teach children about basic art techniques.

Group Activity:

Play-Doh! I set out child-friendly scissors and different colors of Play-Doh and had the kids practice cutting the Play-Doh. It’s an AWESOME way to practice cutting with kids because 1) it’s fun and 2) it’s so much easier to cut Play-Doh than it is to cut paper. I didn’t set out any other tools or toys, so the kids focused on cutting. They could’ve practiced using scissors for an hour! Many parents told me they were going to go home and cut more Play-Doh, which is wonderful!

I had to tear them away from this activity though to get to our book and then our craft.

Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Group Story:

Next, I had the kids sit on the storytime cushions to listen to Matisse’s Garden by Samantha Friedman. I summarized a few of the pages and really focused on the large fold-out of the art we were replicating: Polynesia, The Sky. The kids oohed and ahhed over the large fold-out page and when I told them we were making that, they got really excited.

Individual Art:

When I explained their art project to them, I made sure to encourage caregivers to let the kids do the cutting themselves!

This project had a few steps, so the caregivers needed to listen to the instructions carefully. The kids loved painting but some got frustrated with the cutting. (Which is expected! I’m hoping the caregivers saw a need for scissors practice at home.)

After our Matisse lesson, the young artists were happy, the young artists’ parents were happy and the young artists’ librarian was happy, so it was a successful morning in Young Artists! Woohoo! ​

Henri Matisse Shapes Collage: Cutting with Toddlers and Preschoolers

 

We all need some more art inspired by important artists! Try these!

Comment below with any tips you have for teaching kids to use scissors!

Check out this post for more art history ideas: