Paper Sculpture STEAM Program

 

On a shoestring budget? No time to plan and prep? Need a super simple, low-cost, low-effort-yet-high-quality program in a pinch? Looking for open-ended, process art that's easy and not messy? Then this one's for you!

I first saw this project about a year ago (sorry, I don't remember where or by whom), and thought it would be a great fit for the summer reading 2025 theme of "Color Our World". I loved how colorful and creative it was, and since it was abstract art there would be no "wrong" way of doing it and each person's piece would be unique. But I ended up leaving that library before summer reading, and the library I went to was doing a different theme and already had programs planned through August. This library unfortunately does not have a healthy programming budget, and I still really wanted to do this program, so it was a natural choice for my first school-age program this fall.

Time: 1 hour

Ages: 5-12 (actual ages of my participants were 4-10)

Budget: Nominal, basic stock supplies already on hand

Description: "Get creative and explore shapes, movement, and spatial relationships by twisting, folding, curling, and gluing strips of colored paper to create a one-of-a-kind sculpture."

Concepts & Skills:

• Colors
• Spatial relationships
• Fine-motor
• Socio-emotional
• Creativity

Materials & Supplies:

• assorted colors of paper, cut into strips of varying widths (I only had 9x12 construction and 8.5x11 printer papers, I wish I'd had the bigger construction paper to cut longer strips from)
• glue sticks (liquid glue will not work as it doesn't dry fast enough)
• cardboard bases (I used thin cardboard from cereal boxes)
• scissors, in case they want to cut strips shorter or thinner
• pencils, markers, and/or crayons, to use to wind strips around for curls & spirals, writing names, or embellishing paper strips

How To:

1. I cut all the strips ahead of time, and made an example, both to use for promotion and to give them an idea of what we were doing.
   
   
2. I emphasized that there was no wrong way to do it, and that each person's piece would be unique and different, just like we were each unique and different. I demonstrated how to do some of the basic shapes (bridge, circle, accordian-fold, spiral, freeform twist), but encouraged them to experiment.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Shape a strip, anchor one end with glue stick and hold 3-5 seconds, then anchor the other end.
   
   
4. Keep adding paper strips until you feel your sculpture is done!
   
   
5. Each participant created their own sculpture which they took home with them, and each participant also added strips to the collaborative piece below that was put on display at the library.
   
   

   

   Collaborative Sculpture

   
   

How It Went:

I am at a small neighborhood library that usually does not get very large attendance at programs, so I was thrilled to end up with 3 participants, along with their caregivers. They all seemed to really enjoy the project, and were proud and excited with their finished sculptures. It was interesting to see that each child tended to gravitate towards a particular shape, though they all used multiple shapes, and even came up with shapes that I had not thought of. One partipant had the idea to embellish the strip, writing his inital on each section of an accordion-folded strip.

I really like collaborative art, and was glad I thought of having everyone contribute to a collaborative piece to put on display in the library. The kids really seemed to like being able to both take their sculpture home, and have one on display at the library. I of course loved the low-prep aspect, which really was fortuitous as we were extremely short-staffed this week, which meant I was on the service desk pretty much all day, every day, with no built-in set-up time. 

This was a fun, easy, and successful program that I will definitely do again in the future. I highly recommend it, even if you have a very healthy program budget, adequate staffing, and tons of prep time 😉.

SRP Week 1 - Going to the Beach

 

So there is always ongoing discussion in youth services about themes, usually in relation to storytime, but also in relation to summer reading. Many libraries follow CSLP or iREAD themes, some come up with their own, and some don't really have a theme, other than "summer at the library". I've always said themes are optional, and sometimes can be fun and make it easier to plan, and sometimes can be too restrictive and make it more difficult.

Most of the libraries in my state follow CSLP, as does mine, so our theme is "Oceans of Possibilities". This was a very easy theme to decorate around, and I thought would be pretty easy to program around, but I found it harder than expected. I ended up picking several activities I wanted to do, looking at when I had scheduled guest performers, and what movies I had planned to show, and picking weekly themes to loosely follow to give me some direction [however, I am thinking more and more of moving away from themes, especially after looking at the CSLP themes for next year]. For the first week, I decided on a loose "beach" theme, with sand-based activities.

Leaf Art - Elementary Art Program

Though I love doing STEM-related programs, this year my co-worker and I decided to mix things up so that we could each do some science and some art, and this month I wanted to do a leaf art program because I love fall leaves, and I've wanted to do a leaf-collage program every since I first saw Lois Ehlert's Leaf Man several years ago.

These were my inspiration books, which I also displayed during the program:

Ages: 5-10

Time: 1 hour, though most kids were done within 45 minutes.

Number: I only had 11, but could have easily accommodated twice that.

Budget: $20

Materials:

• lots of leaves of assorted types, sizes, and colors, flat and not too dry
• glue
• paint brushes
• assorted googly eyes (optional)
• paper
• crayons
• table covering (I really like the disposable tablecloths that are paper on top with a plastic layer underneath) - $5 for package of 2
• small spray bottles - at least 3
• tempera or powdered watercolor paints
• heavyweight watercolor paper - package of 30 sheets for $9 (or other thick, absorbent paper, cardstock might work as well, or possibly better)
• paper towels

Activity #1 - Leaf Collage

1. I provided several pictures for inspiration, some that I found online as well as the pages from a damaged Leaf Man book that had been withdrawn. I told them these were just for inspiration and not to try to copy anything exactly because we might not have the same types of leaves, and to use their own imagination.

2. Each participant was provided paper, glue, and a paintbrush for spreading the glue out in a thin layer. The leaves, extra paper, and assorted googly eyes were placed on a table behind them. I instructed them to just squeeze a little glue onto the paper, spread it out with the paintbrush, and then press a leaf into the glue, or for the larger leaves they could apply the glue to the back of the leaf.

3. This seemed to be the favorite and most satisfying of the three activities for most of the kids.

Activity #2 - Leaf Rubbings 

A classic activity, and all you need are leaves, paper, and crayons! I sorted through our crayons and picked out all the ones that were already naked, but put out extra crayons in case there weren't enough or someone wanted a different color. I first demonstrated how to do it, showing you can do whatever combination of leaves and colors you like (interestingly enough, someone took my example paper home).

1. For this activity, it doesn't matter if the leaves are colored or not, so I just put out green leaves and saved the other colors for the collage table. Simply place your leaves face down (the veins are more pronounced on the underside) on the table, place a piece of paper over them, and rub over the leaf, holding a naked crayon horizontally. Start with light pressure and only increase pressure if necessary. Change direction to pick up all of the details. It helps to have someone hold the paper still, or to tape it to the table.

2. Experiment with different leaves and colors to get different effects.

Activity #3 - Negative & Positive Leaf Prints 

This one was a bit messy! To prep, I covered the tables with disposable absorbent tablecloths with plastic backing (old newspapers would be great, too). Then I diluted liquid tempera paints with water in spray bottles, enough so that they would spray but no so much the paint wouldn't show up well on the paper. I just eyeballed it, but I would guess roughly 1 Tablespoon of paint to 1 Cup of water. Mix well. 

*Make sure the nozzles are set for spray, not stream!

I put out heavy watercolor paper, 5 spray bottles of paint (in blue, green, red, yellow, & orange), assorted leaves (again, green is fine for this activity), and my practice example on the table. I also demonstrated for the kids before we started.

1. Pick out a few leaves with interesting shapes and arrange them on the paper.

2. *LIGHTLY* spray the paint, being sure not to hold the bottle too close to the paper. Spray from about a foot above the table, and slightly back from the paper. You want the paint to fall down on and around the leaves, not go under the leaves, to get the sharpest outline. Remember, LIGHTLY is the key word here! You can use more than one color on different areas, but if too many colors overlap, it will just look brown or gray.

3. Let it sit and soak into the paper for a few minutes. Then, place another piece of paper over it, and rub with fairly heavy pressure over where the leaves are, then gently peel the paper back. Carefully remove the leaves and discard. Any excess paint that is not absorbed can be carefully blotted off with a paper towel.

4. This will give you both negative and positive prints of your leaves. Some turn out better than others, in my case one of the kids ended up with a much nicer set than I got from my example above, and it takes a little practice. Some (most?) will have to learn the hard way that it really is necessary to use a light touch and not combine too many colors, so encourage them to do more than one.

How It Went  

In all honesty, I was disappointed in the turnout; I really expected to have more than the usual 12-15, not less. I thought people would be all excited about fall and fall leaves, and was actually worried about having too many show up. I don't know if it was lack of interest, or the pull of the beautiful weather we had that day that kept people away. I think I should have played up the collage art more in the marketing, since that was clearly what most participants seemed to enjoy the most.

The collage and rubbings worked fine, and there were no issues there at all, but the print-making did not quite go as well as I'd hoped. I had ordered the special heavyweight watercolor paper thinking that it would readily absorb the paint and dry more quickly, but it didn't quite work that way. While it did absorb some, and once absorbed it dried very quickly, it took much longer than I expect to absorb. 

I thought it would soak up the paint immediately, but instead the paint first beaded on top of the paper and only slowly soaked in, taking much longer than I expected. Also, when doing the positive print, the paint did not transfer as well to the watercolor paper as it did to a piece of cardstock I tried. If I were to do this again, I would definitely experiment more ahead of time with different papers to see if I could find one that worked better.

And, as I have frequently observed when I or anyone else had done a painting activity, people are too impatient to wait for their paintings to dry, and understandably don't want to take one that is still wet with them, and often leave them behind and never come back for them. Even though these dried much faster than most, and all were relatively dry by the end of the program (after blotting off excess), I found many left behind. I don't know if I will bother with any painting activities in the future as there is just too much waste.

Two of our participants found an unexpected guest that had been a stowaway on one of the leaves:

What I Would Do Differently 

I think next time I would definitely do the collage and put more emphasis on it, but find some other way of making prints or a completely different activity instead, and find another activity in place of or in addition to the leaf rubbing, as there didn't seem to be as much interest or enthusiasm for that one, perhaps because it is one that can easily be done at home.

Potato Print Making - Elementary Art Program

Though I've done a few programs that had an artistic or creative component, this was my first official art program. It was also the first public summer program I've been solely responsible for, though I've done outreach programs and helped with a number of public programs in the past.

Potato print making is an old tried-and-true activity that even my husband remembers doing in school, but it can be frustrating trying to carve the shape you want. Luckily I came across a quick and easy method from The Best Ideas for Kids that is more kid-friendly, especially for a crowd.

Ages:  5-10

Number: As many as you have space and potatoes for!

Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Budget: $15-25

Materials:

• potatoes (small potatoes will make 2 stamps, large can make 3 stamps)
• assorted mini-cookie cutters (I already owned these)
• butter knives (scavenged from home & the staff break room)
• tempera paint
• paper 
• paper plates
• paint brushes
• paper towels
• paper clips
• cups 
• water
• disposable tablecloths

Method:

Prep - I cut the small potatoes in half, and the large ones into 3 pieces right before the start of the program, put them into 2 bins, and spread the cutters out onto 2 trays. I also set out sign holders with illustrated directions, stacks of paper towels, paint brushes, and butter knives on the tables.

After the participants came in and sat down, I explained what we were going to do, and demonstrated how to make the potato stamps. 

1. First, select a cutter, then a potato piece the appropriate size.

2. Then, push the cookie cutter into the potato. It is easier to get it started, then turn it over onto the table and push the potato onto the cutter.

3. Next, use the butter knife to slice into and around the cookie cutter, taking care not to cut under the cutter.

4. Peel away the excess potato, using a paper clip to clean up any tight corners or crevices if needed.

5. Carefully remove the cookie cutter and blot excess moisture from your newly created stamp. Now the stamp is ready to use!

(While they made their stamps, I prepped palettes of paint on paper plates and set them out on the tables (1 for every 3-4 kids to share) along with cups of water for cleaning brushes.)

6. Using a brush, apply a very SMALL amount of paint to the potato stamp. Seriously, less is more! If it looks wet, there is too much and it will slide on the paper, distorting the print. Test it out on a scrap piece of paper or paper towel first.

7. Carefully invert and press stamp onto the paper, making sure all surfaces make contact; you might have to slightly roll or rock the stamp to get all the edges and details. You can probably get 2-3 prints without having to re-apply paint.

8. Repeat!

9. I encouraged them to make more than one stamp as long as there were potatoes left, and/or to share stamps with each other or try their hand at carving their own shape as well. I provided zip-lock bags for those who wanted to take them home (they will last a few days in the fridge).

10. We made a piece of collaborative art (pictured at top) by combining prints from the stamps they created on one large piece of paper.

How It Went 

It went well, but I was a hot, sweaty, tired mess by the time it was over! The room we have is not all that big, and it was packed! Initially, I had the perfect number of participants, with about 20-25 kids and their accompanying adults, which is what I had prepared for and comfortably fills the room. Then a daycare and a few other latecomers showed up, adding another 15 or so kids! Thankfully our assistant manager came in and helped set up another row of tables and chairs for them and my supervisor grabbed a few additional supplies.

After that initial panic, things went well. They were much faster at making the stamps than I expected, so I wish I had prepped the palettes of paint and cups of water in advance. I also forgot to tell them to use the brushes to apply a light coat of paint to the stamps, though it was on the printed directions at each table, and they started out dipping the stamps into the paint and using WAY too much paint. Also, some did not understand that the shape was supposed to stay attached to the potato, and they sliced it right off and used it by itself, which can work, but is not as easy and is more messy. I found kids and adults completely ignored the illustrated instructions placed on the tables.

I ended up with a total of about 40 kids and 20 adults, and we went through 20 pounds of potatoes! 

This is a great technique to use for making your own wrapping paper or customizing plain gift bags or boxes. It can also be used with fabric paint on clothing or bags.