Third Grade Mosaic

This was a collaborative project that I had about 10 of my third graders work on after school for about a month.

The company Charming Charlies donated a huge boxes of damaged and discarded jewelry to the Spark Park organization in Houston. From there, Spark Park asked Houston art teachers to use the discards to create a "Fun in the Park" themed mosaic. They provided us with a white, foam board that measured about 3' x 5', gave us a box of jewelry and we were off!

I invited 2 students from each of my third grade classes to stay after school with me for about a month. We started the project by working on organization. The box of jewelry was a huge, tangled, chaotic nightmare! The kids and I had scissors, wire cutters and pliers and we cut, twisted and broke up anything that we could and sorted everything into color coordinated tubs. The first day, we did this in the art room. Huge mistake!!! There were beads flying EVERYWHERE!!! The next day, I wised up, and we moved the entire production out onto the patio area right outside of my room- so much better!

It took us about a week just to get everything organized. By this time, the kids and I were all tired of this part! We were ready to get going on the actual mosaic!

We talked about the theme and brainstormed ideas for what activities they do in the park- I noticed a central theme, everything required the use of a ball. So we went with that- I did the drawing for them so that I could guarantee that it would be big enough.

Then I had the students paint the entire board so that when we finished gluing all of the pieces on, the paint would help add to the color (I didn't intend on grouting, since I was afraid the board wasn't sturdy enough).

Once it was painted, the fun really began! I had the students start with the balls. The beads were sorted by color, so they could pull out the tub that corresponded with each one and glue the pieces right onto the board. I used craft glue and painted it onto the board with a brush. The students followed behind me, adding the mosaic pieces.

When we finished the mosaic, the Spark Park committee came and picked it up. It will now be used in an auction to help raise funds for their program. It was really hard for the students to say goodbye to this piece. They loved it- and so did everyone who saw it. I propped it against the wall outside of the art room for about a week and everyone was amazed that 3rd graders had created it! Pin It