DIY: Washi Tape Cities
Our 4-6 year old art class students created cityscapes using washing tape and colored pencil and the results were so sweet. The goal of this project was for students to understand depth and scale through the whimsical layering of buildings. Buildings were created using rulers first, over lined with wash tape, and filled in with colored pencils.
Young children enjoy the experience of using a ruler and revel in the success of drawing straight lines. Older children might enjoy expanding on this project through the incorporation of more details or using one- or two-point perspective.
For this project demonstrated here, you will need:
drawing pencil
scissors
To begin, students draw a variety of vertical rectangles, overlapping one another, using a pencil and a ruler.
Next, students apply wash tape atop the pencil lines. To help separate the buildings, students were asked to use one pattern or color of wash tape for each building. One trick to this process is to apply the edge of the tape from the roll to the end of one side of a building. Run/roll out the tape alongside the building and cut when you reach the other end.
Students use colored pencils to “fill in” their buildings and their backgrounds.
We finished off the pieces by placing them atop a black background that really made them pop.