My son is showing an interest in birds but he's not drawing them yet so I thought it would be fun art project to help him create his own bird book using magazine cut outs for a collage project.
First we read the book, Birdsongs and I asked Kiddo if he would like to make his own book about birds. He agreed and fortunately I had already prepared some photos and the paper. Kiddo decided he only wanted one photo per page (instead of a more traditional "collage") and really got a kick out of using the glue stick. I did have to assist here to make sure enough glue got on the photo to make it stick, but for the most part he worked independently.
All you really need is a glue stick, some paper and magazine cut outs. I used a pipe cleaner threaded through two holes for the binding.
Of course, every book needs a page number:
Or two:
My personal favorite picture:
Afterwards we read his newly created book, discussing what noise each bird might make. Evidently, all birds say, "tweet, tweet".
Kiddo wanted to do some more gluing with the leftover photos. He also called this collage his "book". As you can see, he also discovered how to empty the hole puncher.
UPDATE: Head over to see our new "sophisticated" hobby book.
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Jenny says
I like the idea of making a book- I think my daughter might enjoy that. She loves the glue stick too, and we're nuts about birds around here. I've added Birdsong to my library list for this week, so I'm glad you mentioned it. His "free-form" collage at the end is really something- the addition of the hole punch bits was inspired!
Mom Unplugged says
So cute (and funny), I just love the page numbers! That makes it all very much like a "real" book!
I think your book idea is a wonderful one (plus you used up leftover pipecleaners-very clever!). Perhaps I could "steal" your idea and we could do "book" one week for our project.
"Birdsong" sounds like a lovely book. I'll have to try and find it at our library....or just break down and buy it on Amazon.
Andrée says
I agree: Birdsong sounds like a wonderful book that I would like. Your collage is so charming: totally charming. I really love it!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Thank you!