Early Childhood

The Essential Question
Imagine you are an architect. What would your dream city look like?

Objective
Students will create a city-themed accordion book using paint and collage techniques.

Materials
precut paper templates, tempera paint or tempera sticks, high-quality collage paper, glue sticks, scissors, oil pastels

Procedures

1. Introduce students to the concept of a cityscape. What makes a city a city? What do all or most cities have in common?
2. Ask students to imagine they are architects and brainstorm what their dream city would look like. How will the buildings appear? What types of storefronts and houses will they include? What would make their city a special place to live? Give students time to sketch ideas and brainstorm with a partner.
3. Show students how to fold their precut paper template to create their accordion books.
4. Students choose a color scheme, paint their accordion books, and add patterns to the building façades.
5. 5. Once the paint dries, students collage windows, doors, and business signs using cut paper and glue.
6. Students add details using oil pastels. Students can display their cityscape standing up or fold it back into a book.

Colleen Pickup is a pre-K teacher at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.