City Collages

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These City Collages, inspired by Romare Bearden, are so creative and fun to make!

1st graders use construction paper, crayons, and even photocopies of photographs to create their own little cities bursting with exciting narratives!



*** This full lesson with collage photos is available on Teachers Pay Teachers, Classful, and Made By Teachers ***

Step 1:  Introduction and Building Design

My first graders learned about Romare Bearden and his collages through this PowerPoint.

We talked about cities and what a cityscape looks like. I teach in a city where we can see our metropolis's skyline from our local beaches, so this was an easy concept for my students to envision and relate to.

Students chose if they wanted a daytime scene or nighttime scene, and they got a 12”x18” piece of construction paper in either light blue or dark blue accordingly.  We drew a line for the ground about 2-3” from the bottom of the paper.

Then each group of students got a stack of tall and narrow (2-3" by 6-8") construction paper rectangles in various colors. Students could cut the top of the rectangles in any shape they wanted to design their “buildings”, and then glue the buildings along the “ground” they drew.



Step 2:  Adding Landscape Elements and Details

After students finish designing and gluing their buildings along their horizon, they can choose whether they want a street or water in front of their buildings and then glue the 3”x18” piece of black or blue paper to the bottom of the buildings. For water scenes, students could use construction paper crayons to draw waves to match the color of the building above.. looks like a reflection - so cool! Students with street scenes could use construction paper or crayons to add details to their streets.  



From there, students could use a combination of construction paper crayons, markers, various construction paper scraps, and some photocopied pictures of people to draw and collage additional details on their buildings and city. My Romare Bearden City Collage lesson plan includes 6 pages of black-and-white images of people to use for these collages.


Windows and doors are great additions to the buildings, and stars or clouds can be added to those nighttime or daytime skies. It's so fun to see the creative narratives that come from these little collaged cities!

Students may finish their projects at varying speeds, and early finishers can keep busy with this great coloring sheet of Bearden's artwork!

Happy collaging!!


The Romare Bearden PowerPoint, lesson plan, and collage materials to support this project can all be found in my TpT store, All About Art. 

 


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