Travel Collages

I’m back from quite the adventure. Turkey is truly a visual feast, filled with warm, friendly people and breathtaking views. We’ve poured over our photographs and souvenirs (no mugs), and come to the conclusion that trip collages are a wonderful way for children to remember  special moments such as these.

Embarking on your journey with your collage in mind is the best plan. Have children collect things along the way which they can easily bring back. This can include boarding passes, ticket stubs from entrances to museums or historical sites, receipts from purchases, labels from products used, maps, newspapers and so on. Once home, you can even print up some of your favourite photos to include in your work.

Looking at my daughter’s collage above, you can get a sense of her experience in Turkey. It was extremely hot so she chose to include a weather report from a newspaper; maps showing places we stayed and streets we favoured; ticket stubs recording our visits to memorable sites and museums; colouful images of mosques, graffiti and  the Grand Bazaar  combined with cloudless skies and endless sea. And of course there is the ubiquitous blue amulet which is believed to protect against the evil eye, sold in every possible form imaginable. She has chosen to spare us images of the topless granny on the beach, or photos of the thousands of feral cats that roam the streets in the intense heat. Did I mention it was hot?

Materials

• items collected from your trip
• glue stick
• white glue for heavier items
• heavy card stock or cardboard
• scissors
• frame (optional)

Instructions

1. Lay out all the items you are thinking of using in your collage, and have your other materials handy. Consider searching “collage” on the internet to see the many ways in which you can approach yours.

2. Begin creating a basic layout. You may choose to tear the edges of your paper, or keep them straight using scissors. Don’t worry about going over the edges of your base; you can trim it once finished. Start gluing a few images down, and work from there. You can always make changes if you lift your glued paper up carefully and reposition it.

3. Once you have completed your collage, consider framing it and hanging it up in your child’s room. It will provide a constant reminder of their wonderful adventures.

If you didn’t happen to travel this summer, you can choose a destination you would love to head to one day. Print images from the internet, tear things from travel brochures and magazines, make sketches of your own, and use plenty of imagination.