How to Make a Self-Portrait Collage for Kids

Self-portraits have been around for centuries, and continue to be a popular art project for people of all ages, for good reason. Making a self-portrait can be a very positive act of identity and self-expression. No two are the same. And when you find beauty in yourself that you want to share, it's a great boost in self-esteem!

That's what makes a self-portrait the perfect simple art project for kids of any age. And collage is such a fun medium! If you can cut and glue, you can do this project. So let's get started making a self-portrait collage for kids.

Supplies:

1 pair of scissors

1 glue stick or tape (preferably double-sided)

1 sheet of white paper (preferably a bit bigger than 8.5 x 11 in)

5 types of paper of your choice! (Scrap papers, textured and patterned papers, and colored papers)

1 Posca pen or any other coloring pens

Instructions:

Choose a colored paper that you want for the face. Starting at the top edge of the paper, draw a big ‘U’ shape, cut it out, and then paste it on a white sheet of paper.

Note: You can trim the straight portion if you feel like the face is too big.

To make the ears, draw two ‘C’s on a small piece of paper. Cut, then paste, one on each side of the head.

For the hair, put a piece of paper (any color or style of your choice) on top of the head and mark where you want to cut. Cut on the markings, then paste above the head.

Draw two large white circles for eyes. If you don't have a white pen, you can cut the circles out of white paper. Or you can get creative and glue on googly eyes, buttons, or make eyes out of different color papers. Your imagination is the limit! For the nose, draw a triangle in the middle of the face. Draw three small circles, two on the lower sides of the triangle and one on the middle.

Now it's time to add the body. This is where you can pull out your decorative papers and have lots of fun with color, pattern, and texture. For this project, we used the inside of an envelope that came in the mail. (Psst…it's a good idea to look through your junk mail for this very reason! The envelopes and ads can sometimes have great colors and patterns you can cut up and use for your collage projects.) Line up the paper below the face and trace a simple upside-down U shape for the torso. Cut, then paste it below the face.

Now that you have the basic body, head, and hair, it's time to brush off your creativity and make it completely unique. For this project, we used a black marker to draw on the eyes and eyebrows. We cut circles out of red paper for the cheeks. We drew the mouth with a red marker and the glasses with a yellow marker. Then it was on to dressing our self-portrait. This is where it gets really fun! Get out all of your decorative, patterned, colorful paper, or make your own. We tore decorative paper into the shape of a bowtie, and cut buttons out of pages of an old book. A paper bag was used for the little stand (we imagine this little cutie is selling ice cream at this makeshift ice cream stand). But the sky is the limit for your own creative self-portrait, so don't hold back.

Ta-da! Here's our finished self-portrait.

But as we mentioned before, every self-portrait should be unique! You are one of a kind, and so your art should be too. So just take the format we've shown you but make it your own!

Want to see what some of the kids in Creativity. School made with this lesson? We think they're fantastic!

We hope you enjoyed to make a self-portrait collage for kids. Want more tutorials and recipes? Sign up for 5 free classes at Creativity School here. And be the first to learn about our amazing Black Friday deals by clicking here!

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