Mosaic Boxes

I found this lesson plan in one of Sax's lesson plan booklets- Mosaic Embellished Boxes. The students had a great time with this, however, I have to say, that the pre-made tiles got pretty expensive. If I do this one again, I will focus more on having the students make their own tiles using FIMO clay or maybe even having them make some with Longhorn white and then glazing them.

However, since this was the first time doing this lesson, I stuck with the plan as is (live and learn). I connected this to Byzantine mosaics, thus keeping with our focus on Art Around the World. We looked at a variety of mosaics found throughout Europe and Asia and noticed colors (lots of gold) and features.

The students chose a color scheme and then I had the students paint their boxes with acrylic paint first (inside and out). Then they measured out a piece of graph paper that fit the top of the box, so that they could plan how they wanted their design to look.

I had a variety of glass tiles in different sizes that they were allowed to use (for this year- probably not next year, or I might need to limit how many of these are used).

Once their design was ready, I showed them how to use FIMO clay to make any special tiles that they wanted. They used different texture plates and clay tools to make these unique. When they were ready, I put them into the toaster oven and baked them for 30 minutes and then saved them in a ziplock bag for each class. This is another aspect that I need to refine. We had a hard time sorting out the handmade tiles once they were baked. The larger tiles had room for the students to carve their initials into (on the back). However, the tiny ones, didn't have room and it got very confusing when we needed to pass out tiles.

Once all of the tiles were ready, we used adhesive to stick them onto the lid, following the plan that was created at the beginning of the project.

I had then had a variety of beads, sequins, bottle caps and other randomness for the students to add embellishments to their boxes.

I will definitely be doing this project again, but will need to rethink the logistics before putting it into action!



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Tall Tales in Art- Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

 For the third week of our summer program, I read the children the book velma gratch & the way cool butterfly by Alan Madison.
Velma is a first grader, with two older sisters. Everyone at her school remembers her sisters, but no one ever remembers Velma. She tries different ways to get herself noticed by her teachers. She finally finds something that her sisters never learned about- BUTTERFLIES! Her class takes a trip to the butterfly conservatory. Velma has a monarch butterfly land on her finger and it won't leave! No one will ever forget this!

If you have never read this book, I highly recommend it! We tied in a little science before we got started on our art projects and what child (and adult) doesn't

love butterflies? There is great vocabulary in the book and the children loved the way Velma went about learning the new words.

The 2-5 year olds then did a painting project with their caregivers. They folded a piece of paper in half and cut out 1/2 of a butterfly.

They opened the paper and painted on only one side.

We made sure to put out fluorescent colors for this

 project.

This project worked out well for the little ones. Aside from being a little messy, they just had to cover the paper with paint.

When they finished, they re-folded their paper and rubbed it really well to transfer the paint to the other half of the page.

When they opened them up, it was priceless to see little eyes get huge! It was like magic had taken place on their paper!
I had a few blow dryers handy for the volunteers to help the kids dry their paint (usually I would put them on a drying rack, but this program is only and hour and a half, no time for allowing paint to dry!).

Once the paint was fairly dry, they glued the butterfly shape onto a piece of construction paper and then started adding details: legs, eyes, antenna, etc.

I had pipe cleaners, construction paper, scissors, glue all handy for them to use.

 The results were absolutely gorgeous! The fluorescent colors really added to the overall effect of the project.

 The 6 and 7 year olds made butterfly molas.

They started out by cutting a butterfly shape (the same way the younger group did) and gluing it onto a piece of construction paper.

Then I had pre-cut pieces of construction paper into 3" x 4" pieces and the student were shown how to cut circle, triangle, ovals, etc.

They learned how to cut multiples of one shape by folding their paper or placing 2 or 3 pieces together.

 As they cut their pieces, they used school glue to glue the pieces onto their butterfly.

The 8 and up group made mosaics. They also cut out a butterfly shape and glued it onto another piece of paper.

I had bought bags of mosaic paper and the students used these to glue onto their buttefly. They used scissors to cut the pieces if they were too big or if they needed triangles.

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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