We’ve had a lot of fun with a body tracing activity over the past week or so.
WHAT STARTED AS A SIMPLE INVITATION TO WORK BIG TURNED INTO A WEEK-LONG EXPLORATION OF SELF PORTRAITS, WORKING LARGE, AND EVEN QUILTING (ON PAPER).
I taped large sheets of butcher paper to the floor in the living room, added a tray of art supplies, and then went to pick up Daphne and her friend Julianna from preschool.
They opted for body tracing self portraits and I decided to do the same and work beside them (they collaborated to trace my body).
Here are some photos, instructions, and the finished (totally awesome!) artworks decorating our walls:
BODY TRACING ACTIVITY FOR KIDS
MATERIALS
- Butcher paper
or other large paper (we sometimes use brown contractor’s paper from the hardware store and have also used two pieces of easel roll paper
taped together)
- Masking tape
- Oil pastels
- Paints (we used BioColors
this time)
- Fabric scraps or decorative papers (optional)
- White glue (optional)
Since I know I’ll get questions, here’s the art tray we used and these are the double-dip paint cups
.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. First, cut a length of butcher paper long enough to fit your child’s body and tape it to the floor.
2. Have your child lie down on the paper and strike a pose of their choice. Trace their body with dark oil pastels or a marker.
3. Draw and paint the self portrait as desired.
Julianna painted her body tracing exclusively and Daphne focused on drawing details and decorations on hers with the oil pastels.
4. Add collage elements to your self portrait if you like (we often do!). In the past we’ve added everything from yarn and buttons to pasta and metal washers, but this time we focused on fabrics, applied with a watered down white glue.
Here’s Daphne’s completed self portrait. I love all the detail! Her collage elements were added around the body rather than over the body, which I thought was interesting.
When Maia got home from school later, she joined in the fun, but chose to make a large-scale bird painting and collage rather than a body tracing.
Maia’s mama bird is joined by a baby bird (see the tiny head against the big head in the photo below?) under a cape and surrounded by a quilt of fabric scraps.
Daphne did a second self portrait, with a little teamwork on Maia’s part. Painting only this time.
And that’s my body tracing art over on the right. I pieced together a fabric skirt and glued on a fabric heart and bird as well some circles cut out of some indigo fabric.
I LOVE all these large, colorful artworks and hung them in the living room using a combination ofCommand Strips and tiny nails.
(I decided to take the kids frame display wall down for a while in order to make space for these.)
After her bird was completed, Maia decided to do a self-portrait as well…
She added grass, flowers, and a pond with lily pads and tadpoles and I hung it on the one remaining wall space in the living room.
Have you done body tracing with your kids yet? If not, here’s a bit more inspiration for you…
