Seed Mosaic

Have you ever created a mosaic?

A mosaic is a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, glass… or even SEEDS. As a former art teacher, mosaics are pretty simple to do, require just a few materials and always end up a success in my opinion.

On our SEED Day of learning, we made a mosaic out of a variety of seeds thanks to our Experience Early Learning Garden Treasures box! EEL sent us seed mixture (bird seed), cardstock with punched holes, and twine to actually make it hang! All I had to provide was glue, pencils, and any other seeds I happened to have on hand. I had black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, and corn kernels tucked away for sensory bins and used a few handfuls of them to add to our seed mixture.

Engage

First thing you need to do is engage your learners. Setting up the Inspiration Photo sent by EEL always peaks their interest. Asking questions and thoughts about the photo they see inspires them about what they might want to do with their artwork.

Lately I have been working alongside them creating my own artwork which inspires them and they inspire me too!

Explore

After peaking their interest, we each took a pencil and drew a simple shape or picture on our cardstock. I did a simple landscape which inspired my girl to make her own landscape as well. My 3 year old went to town with the pencil.

Then we let our glue fill a space and used our seeds like crayons to fill that particular area with color. Then we moved on to the next place. My son placed glue in lines and blobs. He had a great time placing his lima beans. Using a variety of sized seeds definitely helps those fine motor skills.

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Explain and Evaluate

Art Critique:

When we were all done, the kids talked about what their picture was about and what they used to make it. They told me their favorite parts about each other’s work and if they would change anything about their own. It’s important for kids to be able to look at their work and know what they like and don’t and encourage them to think about what they could do to make it better if they’d like.

My son loved his lima and black bean creation! There was nothing he wanted to change or add and that’s great! He knew what he wanted and he liked it as it was. My daughter told him she liked how he placed his lima beans in a line. He told her he liked her sun.

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I love how Experience Early Learning provides us with so many opportunities to make art with all sorts of materials! I seriously would not have thought about making a seed mosaic, but I am so thankful I have 3 hanging in my house right now.