Jenn Doing My Best

Last week, we did a fun DIY craft for President’s Day based on the book What Presidents Are Made Of (2004) by author and illustrator Hanoch Piven.

It’s a creative nonfiction book for kids that shares playful and memorable facts about U.S. presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush.

In Piven’s whimsical portraits of the presidents, the artist uses everyday objects in the illustrations to reflect the personalities and traits of each leader.

The kids loved his mixed media collages so mich that they thought it’d be fun to give it a try!

This President’s Day craft is super easy for kids to make. All you need is a print out photo of the president of your choosing and art scraps you have at home!

My kids had so much making their mixed media collages while I read the book to them. They used items such as old Starbucks gift cards for the upper body, tulle and sequin snowflakes for the hair, buttons for the eyes, and even Sourpatch Kids gummies for his shirt! 😂

Materials You’ll Need:

• printout of a president (the kids chose George Washington)
• glue
• scissors
• construction paper
• pom poms
• glitter
• googly eyes
• buttons
• ribbons
• any other art scraps you have at home!

For kids who love to draw, they can also draw an outline of a president and use paint, markers, or color pencils to color in the president’s face.

How We Made It!

I used our Canva account to print out a black and white illustration of George Washington, and then the kids cut it out and pasted the picture to construction paper.

Using glitter, googly eyes, old gift cards, sour gummies, and other fun art scraps we had in our supplies, the kids decorated their president craft.

This was such a playful way to explore presidential history together. The kids had fun creating their silly designs, and they liked reading the book, too. I love when history feels both creative and memorable. 😊

💜XO

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