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. The colorful paper has such a cool texture when finished and can be used for making collages or writing notes!
See it in action here!
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 or My Favorite Art 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 completely.
You can use your finished papers for all kinds of things- little notes, collage work etc. They’re also beautiful all on their own!
