Collage

Do you love to make pictures. I do. It is so much fun. Snip, snip, snip go the scissors on colorful paper. Squish, squish goes the sticky glue on your fingers. You can find so many wonderful things to put on a page. A shiny red button from a coat. A big, crunchy leaf from the yard. A piece of sparkly paper that winks in the light. You can put them all together, side by side. All the different pieces make a happy jumble. Together, they make something brand new. Do you know who I am. I am a Collage.

I am not a new idea. I am a very, very old idea. A long, long time ago, around the 10th century, people in a faraway place called Japan glued beautiful papers together to make poems look extra special. But I got my name much later. I had two good friends who were artists. Their names were Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. They lived in a city called Paris. One day, in the year 1912, they did something super exciting. They took pieces of newspaper and pretty wallpaper and stuck them right onto their paintings. It was so different. They gave me my name, Collage, which comes from a word that means 'to glue.'

Now you can find me everywhere. Look on a birthday card. You might see me in your favorite picture book. You can even make me at school. I am a special way to tell a story using all sorts of shapes, colors, and fun things you find. I show everyone that when you put lots of little, different pieces together, you can make something amazing and beautiful. So go ahead. Grab some paper, some sticky glue, and your favorite little things. Let's make a collage together.