Turn crumpled pieces of paper into colorful artwork in this fun art project for kids. This easy art activity is inspired by the children’s book, Ish, by Peter H. Reynolds!

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The Preschool Book Club is back this week with creative activities for kids inspired by the popular children’s book, Ish! Every other week we’ll be sharing some fun activities for kids based on the book of the week. (Be sure to check out all my activities for kids inspired by children’s books!)

 

Crumpled Paper Art Inspired by Ish

In the story, Ish, a little boy named Ramon loves to draw, but loses his confidence when his picture is laughed at by his older brother. Over and over he crumples his drawings and tosses them on the floor and is ready to give up on art. But, his younger sister has been secretly gathering the crumpled drawings and displays them. She teaches Ramon that art isn’t about being perfect, but about thinking more -ishly!

 

 

We were inspired by all of Ramon’s crumpled papers in the story to make our own crumpled paper art. This is a great process art activity that really gets the kids excited about creating!

 

Crumpled Paper Art Project for Kids 

Materials for Crumpled Paper Art

• White construction paper
• Watercolors (We used liquid watercolors.)
• Paintbrush
• Scissors or paper cutter

Directions for Crumpled Paper Art

1. Cut your white construction paper into smaller pieces. We split ours into fourths so we ended up with four 6 inch x 4.5 inch pieces per sheet of construction paper.

 

2. Take one piece of your cut construction paper and crumple it up into a ball.

 

 

3. Choose one color and use it to paint all around the outside of  your ball.

 

 

4. Gently unfold it, and see how it looks. Press it down gently.

 

5. Crumple it up again, and paint it with another color.

 

6. Gently unfold it and press it down.

 

 

Many times we stopped only after two colors, but you can continue this process with a third color if you like.

 

 

7. Let the papers dry.

 

 

You can use your finished papers for all kinds of things- little notes, collage work etc. They’re also beautiful all on their own!

 

 

Video: Crumpled Paper Art

 

More Ish Activities

Be sure to check out all the creative Ish activities created by the other members of The Preschool Book Club!

Kids Artwork Candles from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Emotions Charades from Homegrown Friends

 Ishful Math Estimation Jars from Mama Papa Bubba

Block-ish Sculptures from Sugar Aunts

 

Find all kinds of fun activities for kids in our ebook!

Learn more about it here, or buy it now here!