If children have not had much experience with 3-dimensional work, you can introduce them to paper sculpture through “drawing” with strips of paper. This method can be the basis for developing an understanding of sculpture, or form in space. Since children are familiar with line drawing, the transition to drawing in space would be logical. Strips of construction paper, cut to one inch widths on the paper cutter, can be made in advance. Demonstrate how a strip can be a straight line, a curved line, or by folding the strip it can be a zig-zag line. Everyone can try it and see how many different kinds of lines they can make. A line can enclose space so that basic geometric shapes —triangles, circles and squares—can be formed. These outline shapes can be combined with scotch tape, paste, or with a stapler. What can we make with these shapes?

 

Materials Needed

Strips of Paper

Tape

Paste

Stapler

Hole Punch

Paper Fasteners

String

 

Technique 1

Make forms in space. For example, four strips of equal length can be arranged in a radial design and fastened in the middle with a stapler, or holes can be punched and a paper fastener inserted. The ends of the strips can be gathered together to form a sphere. Or two ends fastened on one side and the others on the opposite side will produce a different form. To encourage experimentation, strips can vary in color, width, length, and perhaps in shape too!

 

Technique 2

Children love to use the paper strip figures and animals as puppets because of their lively quality. They also can be made as dangling puppets or mobiles by just tying strings to them.

 

Technique 3

Perhaps you would like to experiment further by making your figure or animal from one wide strip of paper.

And there you have it…. 3 different techniques for making sculptures using simple paper.  This is a great way to teach children about 3 dimensional figures and space…. not to mention teaching them their basic shapes.  What types of Paper Sculptures did you make?  Let me know.

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