Colorful Dried Bean Mosaics
Colorful mosaics are a fantastic way to brighten up your home or classroom for spring. We found the idea for this craft while paging through the winter edition of Scholastic's Instructor Magazine, but we're certain there are hoards of similar projects to be found on the web. Since spring is equated with 'rebirth' and new life, we suggest using natural materials, specifically seeds or dried beans/peas which can be tied into a science lesson on the plant life cycle, growth, etc.
Here's a non-exhaustive list of natural mosaic materials you might try:
- Black-eyed peas
- Green split peas
- Yellow split peas
- Navy beans
- Pinto beans
- Kidney beans
- Red beans
- Black beans
- Anasazi beans
- Calypso beans
- Sunflower seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Melon seeds
And the list could go on and on! Provide students with a sturdy base - Ann Wolff the project contributor at Instructor suggests using foam core - and shallow containers of dried materials, inviting them to give the project a go! Use the craft to supplement a lesson on patterning, shapes, or even 100th day activities like Wolff did by having students count and design with ten groups of ten seeds, beans, peas, etc.
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