How to Make a Picasso Bat

Pablo Picasso was known for many works of art and is perhaps best known for his cubist creations. In simplistic terms, cubism is an artistic interpretation and view of an art subject, and while creating the vision of it, the artist fragments the subject into an abstract forms made up of geometric shapes. This Picasso bat is a simple way to create your own cubist abstract craft. This is a good arts and crafts project for a classroom or a large group of children. The Picasso bat will make a fun and creative Halloween project. You can make a bunch of them and cover a wall or entryway with Picasso bats for a unique Halloween decoration.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two sheets of construction paper, one orange, one black
• Scissors
• White craft glue or glue sticks
• Regular pencil for tracing
• White, gray or silver pencil

1. Get two sheets of construction paper, one orange and one black piece for each bat you make. Set the orange piece aside. It is the background for the Picasso bat. Of course you can make these at any time in any color combination, not just for Halloween. They would also be good as a part of a nature appreciation or awareness project, or for a lesson about bats and wildlife.

2. Draw a bat on the black piece of paper with your pencil. You can make one bat as a pattern that everyone can trace around. That way it is easier with smaller children.

3. Cut the bat out by following the drawn or traced lines. Cut the bat from top to bottom in 6 to 8 zigzag pieces. Don’t throw any of the pieces away. Then draw a simple face on the bat’s head with the colored gray, white or silver pencil.

4. Put the orange piece of paper in front of you then reassemble the pieces of the bat, but leave space between each piece so you can see the orange background. Glue them in place. The pieces can be arranged any way the artist likes, but leaving them in the basic pattern of a bat with the spaces allows the viewers to see what they actually are a picture of and turns them into a recognizable Picasso abstract bat.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to make these bats fancier or more formal, make them out of fabric instead of construction paper.