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Make Mo Willems Inspired Collage Art

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Summertime is one of our favourite times to sit back and enjoy reading. Last year we developed a Summer Reading Club, which we’ll be using again this summer. We thought it would kick off our summer reading by focusing on the prolific and popular Mo Willems. We are taking inspiration from his artwork to create our own awesome collage art! 

 

knuffle bunny free by Mo Willems

Do you know Mo? We didn’t really know Mo Willems all that well. Of course, we are familiar with his pigeon and his Knuffle Bunny, but we had never really explored his books. Our first stop was our local library, where we borrowed “Knuffle Bunny Free” and “Amanda and her Alligator”. After reading these books I asked my daughters if the books inspired them? (I like to see where their imaginations will take us) My youngest daughter thought that we should sort through their stuffies and give some to people who do not have stuffies…just like Trixie does in Knuffle Bunny Free. Awesome idea! We took some time to sort out a small bag of stuffies to be taken to our local Goodwill shop. Fantastic idea!

 
We also took some time to examine the Mo Willems artwork. We were fascinated by how Willems uses real photography with cartoon-like people placed in the photographs. We decided to give this collage technique a try. We collected a few pictures from magazines and a couple of photographs. The pictures had to be void of any people or animals.
collage art supplies

My girls then sketched people and animals to add to the photographs, to make the pictures come to life. Working on this activity led to a discussion about perspective in the artwork. They gained an understanding of how items in the foreground are larger than objects in the background.

 
My eldest daughter finished her picture quickly and then focused on writing a supporting story.
child writing a story

My youngest daughter created a Christmas picture, with a removable Knuffle Bunny!

Mo Willems style collage art
Mo Willems style collage art

We moved on to the photographs…I even tried my hand at this style of art.

collage photo art

Finally, my daughter’s observed that some of Willems pictures have frames…so frames were required.

Mo Willems inspired artwork

All in all, these books were a lot of fun. These books demonstrate how in children’s books the story is important, but the artwork is equally important.

creative art projects for tweens collage and titleCreate more amazing art inspired by our collection of cool art projects for tweens

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. PlayDrMom says

    I LOVE it! How fun. My kids will like it … but *I* definitely want to give it a try!!!

  2. The Monko says

    I really like the knuffle bunny art work. That’s a great idea recreating it. You did a great job too

  3. Melissa Taylor says

    I’ve been so wanting to do this – thanks for the tutorial! The art turned out fantastic!

  4. Peggy-Sue says

    Holy smokes – what a fantastic idea! My kids love his books AND we have a ton of magazines stashed away waiting to be cut up. I’m definitely adding this to our summer “to do” list! Actually – I’ll wait for you to add this to your Pinterest page, then I’ll just pin it!

  5. Peggy-Sue says

    Oops – forgot to add – score on getting your kids to voluntarily donate some stuffies!

  6. Danielle says

    I agree that art is such an important part of children’s lit….and life. 🙂 Great post!

  7. Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories says

    We noticed that about some of Mo’s books, too. Such a great activity to help focus on the art in books.