Fun with Art
May lesson Plan for Kindergarten
Mosaic
Topic Information
Mosaic art is one of the many beautiful forms of art that has made its presence felt throughout the years. Beautiful and colorful, mosaic art is interesting on any surface. So, what is mosaic art and how did it gain importance? Mosaic art is all about the creativity of an artist and how he/she makes beautiful artwork with small pieces of colored stones, glass, ceramic and other such materials.
What is Mosaic Art?
Mosaic is the art of creating images by assembling small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. A mosaic artist requires ample skill and patience to create the artwork. An artist places together small pieces of material for the main artwork. This can be done after the design is finalized and the outlines have been drawn. The artist has the freedom to place the pieces in any way to create designs that range from simple to complex. Mosaic art is versatile and can be done on a variety of surfaces.
Artists have used mosaic art as far back as 2600 BC. During this time stone and pebbles were used to create the basic artwork. The earliest examples reveal that mosaic art was used as floor coverings and even to embellish homes. Throughout history many religions also used mosaic to decorate their places of worship. Artists used this technique to portray plant life, animals, geometrical shapes and prominent people. It is even believed that during the Roman Empire every house was decorated with mosaic art.
Creating mosaic patterns is an ancient art practiced in many countries. The mosaic tile flooring patterns of the Romans and Greeks are the oldest ones. The Greeks used geometric patterns in the creation of mosaic tile artworks. Tesserae were specially manufactured mosaic tiles with different colors and extra detailing. These tiles were small in size and therefore, could be used in the mosaic form to imitate intricate paintings in great detail. The Byzantine mosaics were another type of mosaic patterns, which were made from colored glass sheets.
In the modern times, mosaic art is used not only as a decoration for walls and floors, it is seen on pottery, furniture, medallions, windowpanes, archways, etc. Vibrant colors are mixed to achieve a contrasting effect for the interiors. Today, mosaic art plays an important part in interior design. Many of you might even have mosaic art in your kitchens or bathrooms.
Today we are going to be making our own mosaic art pieces. We will be using many different colors to recreate the image of a sun, ocean waves, or even your name.
**Making a sun seems to take longer than creating the student’s name in mosaic. Whichever project they choose, please have them concentrate on the main image first and fill in the background when they are finished. To ensure that the main image stands out, make sure that they use different colors for the background. If they do not have time to do a mosaic background, they can finish the project by shading the background with a crayon.
Vocabulary Words
Tesserea - One of the small squares of stone or glass used in making mosaic patterns.
Mosaic - the art of creating images by assembling small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials.
Discussion Questions
Here are a few questions to ask the students while showing examples of mosaic works of art.
What do you see?
Why do you think they used these colors?
Do you see any sort of pattern used in any of the examples?
Here are some questions to ask the students after they have completed their project. If time allows, they can even use their own works of art to answer the following.
How did this project make them feel?
Did they like creating art this way?
What other materials would they like to use? (tile, pebbles, seeds)
Basically a brief reflection on what they had created. This is designed to be a fun activity that introduces children to a new style of art.
Mosaic Project Details
Materials: project example, colored construction paper previously cut into small cubes, white construction paper or card stock to glue image to, and glue stick (students provide their own). Please give each child a small amount of colored paper pieces. They can ask for more as needed. The paper cubes will be used by all classes, so please keep unused supplies in the bucket.
Read – There is no book selected for this lesson
Play – There is no music selected for this lesson
Trifold board with mosaic examples
Demonstrate the lesson by following these step by step instructions, please remember to have the students put their name on the back of their paper.
- Give each student a piece of white paper and a handful of each color of paper.
- Using their own glue sticks, gluing one piece of paper at a time students arrange their papers in the shape of a sun, ocean waves, or name. Students can combine different colors to show detailing. If a student has a hard time getting started, encourage them to draw a rough image as a guideline for their design.
** Please remind students to leave a little bit of space between each colored piece of paper.