🎨 Moving & making · Ages 3–4 · about 3 weeks

Tear, Fold and Arrange

Goal: Use both hands to tear and fold paper, and combine shapes in a picture or model.

For parents: Work together at a clear surface. Use large paper pieces and sturdy crayons; keep pieces out of mouths and tidy up afterwards. Let your child choose the result. A fold or tear need not follow a drawn line.

Do together

  1. Two hands, one tear

    You need: Scrap paper

    Make a small starter tear yourself. Show your child how to hold the paper on either side and pull gently in different directions. Save the larger pieces. Let your child point out a shape they notice, without requiring it to be a perfect circle or square.

  2. Fold a standing picture

    You need: Paper and crayons

    Help your child bring two edges of a sheet together and press the fold. Open it a little so it stands low on the table. Add broad marks to make a tent, a shop or an invented place. Hold the paper while your child presses if that helps.

  3. Loose-paper collage

    You need: A sheet of paper and the large torn pieces

    Explain that a collage is a picture made by putting pieces together. Arrange the pieces on the sheet to show a home, a mango tree or an idea your child chooses. Overlap some pieces and move them around. Describe their choices; there is no need to stick them down.

Talk about it

  • What could help you hold the paper?
  • What changes when we fold it?
  • Which shape shall we move in your picture?

Words to use

  • tear
  • fold
  • press
  • shape
  • overlap
  • collage

Play

  • Shape Builder
    Building
  • Trace It
    Pre-writing
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