Textured Winter Collage Craft

Sometimes easy crafts are the best with young kids. This textured winter collage craft is something that even young toddlers can make independently and do their own thing with.

This simple winter craft activity is not about having a fixed end result, but more about exploring the materials and putting them together however your child would like. You could say, it is process art with a winter theme.

Supplies

To make a textured winter picture, gather together some materials that fit the winter colour scheme: whites, blues, silvers… ask your little one which colours they would see in winter, or what colours make them think of “cold”

Here are the winter craft supplies our toddler R used:

• white kitchen roll
• white cotton wool

• silver tin foil / aluminium foil
• blue paint.

Black card makes a good background, to give contrast from the white.

You could also try

• white cotton wool pads
• blue tissue paper
• scraps of blue paper in different shades

• black and white newspaper scraps
• white paint
• silver foil containers from items like mince pies

• kleenex tissues
• shiny silver sweet wrappers
• glitter
• sequins in different shapes

• blue, white, silver or grey wool
• craft Pom poms in winter colours
• paint sample charts with shades of winter colours

• or anything else you have to hand.

Let your toddler get creative sticking the materials down however they would like.

Either white glue like pva glue / school glue (with a glue spreader) or a glue stick like pritt stick will work well for this.

Exploring textures

This activity allows children to experiment with textures of different materials, and create something beyond the 2d.

Texture plays a big part in any kind of art. It’s the very first thing you see and it’s what draws your attention. 

The use of the different textures adds a sensory element to the activity, allowing the toddlers explore their sense of touch and talk about how the different materials feel.

Maybe they will prefer to choose more of the softer materials, or maybe they prefer the shiny ones – it is up to them!

Another great way to explore a different texture is to paint on a mirror

Here is some textured winter process art collage that R made last year.

The Benefit of Process Art

Process art is a term that is used to describe artwork created without any pre-defined goal or direction. The work can be created spontaneously, and the artist does not have any idea of how the work will look or feel when it’s complete. The idea is that the process itself becomes the end result.

Giving children the opportunity to take part in open ended art activities like this takes away the pressure of having the end result needing to look a certain way, or follow the design of a set craft.

Process art can be totally open ended but if you want to incorporate a theme or a season like we did here, then by supplying materials within that colour palette you can guide the children towards that theme – and then step back and let them create.

As with all things, it’s great to have a balance and we are happy to include a mixture of process art open ended, and slightly more guided craft activities.

Follow your child’s interests. Sometimes they are happy to take part in a more structured activity and sometimes they just want to freely create with no limits.

Here are a few more structured activities below for the times when they are feeling in the mood for that…

Also check out our huge list of winter sensory activities which includes activities indoors and outdoors, and has something for all moods.

More Winter Crafts and Play Ideas for Kids

You might also like these fun snowy and wintery ideas

Paper Plate Snowman Scene

Snowflake Wand Winter Craft

Sensory Dough : Glittery Snow Dough

Paper Plate Snowflakes

Snowman Paper Dolls

Tape Snowflakes : Exploring Symmetry in Reflections

Science for Kids: How to Make Artificial Snow

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