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Collage Craft · Seashore Theme · Visual Arts Pablo Picasso · Water Safety Preschool Lesson Plan Printable Activities

Today is going to be a day the children can imagine they are by the seashore collecting shells. After they imagine this, they can make a collage of their "findings."  

The children will also hear about some basic water safety tips around the beach, swimming pools, lakes, or rivers.

Activity 1 > Searching for Seashells and Sea Creatures on the Seashore

  1. Tell the children they will be going to an imaginary seashore.
  2. Print the seashore creatures template in color or black and white (one page per child), have children color it (if applicable) cut out.
  3. Hide the 'sea creatures' in different locations around a room or outdoors.
  4. Have the children search for the seashore items.
  5. Once every one has found them, gather around and talk about the images.  Identify the images and if possible discuss a little about them.  There is information and activities related to most of them in the ocean creatures theme.

Activity 2 > Art Appreciation > The Collage > Introduction to Pablo Picasso
Explain what is a collage and introduce the precursor of this visual art technique.
A collage is a type of visual art work made by sticking cloth, pieces of paper, photographs, and other objects onto a surface.  The term collage was first coined by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso a famous Spanish painter. He was the first to use it in oil paintings, such as this example. The word collage is derived from the French word "coller" which means to paste or "glue."

Activity 3 > Craft > Seashore Collage

  1. Tell the children they will make their very own collage today and the theme is a seashore collage with the shells & other animals they  "found" by the seashore.
  2. Cut a blue piece of construction paper into a strip approximately 2 1/2 inches wide with a wavy edge on one side (see illustration for an example). 
  3. The children can glue this wavy piece (the ocean waves) to a brown or tan piece of construction paper, or sand paper. A brown paper bag is another option.
  4. The children can proceed to glue the seashells, starfish, and clam images on the brown area (the shore). Tell the children the blue part represents the seashore ocean water, and the brown or tan part the sand.
  5. If you have real shells these would also be very nice to the presentation and perhaps each child could glue one or two small ones to the collage as well.

    Related activities: Collage in Children's Picture Books:
    Frederick and Leo Lionni  Explore Leo Lionni's collage technique and his imaginative mice characters.

Activity 4 > Water Safety Tips

  • Print this water safety sheet. Give each child a water safety activity sheet.
  • Review with the children the different safety statements on the sheet.
  • Place the sheet on a board or felt board and run your fingers under the text as you red to demonstrate to children how text is read from left to right.
  • Educators/Childcare providers: Tell the children they are to take this sheet home and have their parents review it with them and keep it as reminder of water safety. Water safety is important anywhere in areas where there is deep water.

Activity 5 > Activity > Boating and Water Safety Coloring Book [PDF format] courtesy of Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources.

seashore collage craft
Seashore Collage Illustration

Seashore Ocean Creatures
in color

black & white


Water Safety Tips Sheet
color

black & white

Materials:
*brown - tan construction paper or sand paper
*blue construction paper-enough for a strip 2 1/2 inches lengthwise for each brown paper
*glue
*scissors
*coloring tools  

Optional: Sea shells

Art Appreciation > Collage · Seashore Animals >