Thursday, January 23, 2014

American Flag Collage


We have been studying the American Revolution in my elementary school class and we just completed this fun flag project that we worked on over several days. I love projects that keep my students happily engaged for hours and thought you might enjoy it too. This is a great art activity to work on while you watch the Winter Olympics and show your support for the U.S of A!



All you need are some old magazines, a glue stick, some scissors and several large pieces of white paper. We started with a piece of a paper that was 11 X 17. To allow for 13 one inch stripes we added an extra two inches to the end.


But you can do fewer stripes and/or use a smaller piece of paper if you prefer. It would also work to cut down a piece of poster board to the correct size. 13 x 17 would be perfect!


The students first measured and drew their one inch stripes with a pencil and ruler. Then they started to cover every other stripe with red pieces cut out of a magazine. I told the students not to worry too much about creating a clean line with the red stripes. They can stick out over the sides of the lines with no problem.


Once they had the red stripes completed, they took another white sheet of paper and covered it completely with white images. They used text and white space as well as some grays and other very light or off-white sections of the magazine. Then we cut this white sheet into clean, even one inch strips. This is what creates the clean lines on the flag, even if your red stripes were a little ragged to begin with.


Once we had the white stripes in place, the students covered this small square of blue paper with more blue magazine pieces.

One of my students had a star hole punch to use for the stars, but star stickers would look just as great.


I love the finished product and think they would look fabulous in a frame over the mantel on the fourth of July or in any room that you want to create an Americana display.



The students were really proud of their creations. I think this is something even 1st and 2nd graders could easily do especially if you work on the colors one at a time.

Go Team USA!


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