COLLABORATIVE PAPER MOSAIC MURAL

Artist Connection: Mosaic Traditions, Alma Woodsey Thomas

Grades: K–8

Time Required: 2 class periods

Project Type: Collaborative

Materials

Using one of the small construction paper chunks, cut a circle and glue it somewhere on their paper. It does not need to be centered.
Choose the paper strips that they want to create their design with 3 or more colours of their choice.
Have student snip the paper strip into smaller pieces. Try to make them roughly the same size.
Glue the paper tiles around the circle.
Continue this process with the next colours, keeping rings of paper tiles close together.
Once they reach the edge, that ring stops. In an effort to get it to the edge, they may have some tiles that hang off, simply trim this at the end.
Glue all pieces close together on a long piece of butcher paper to display.

Why It Works
The finished mural appears far more sophisticated than the individual pieces.

Project details: https://www.mmemarissa.com/art-projects/alma-thomas-inspired-eclipse-art-project

Note: This technique works with lots of shapes; you could have students draw meandering lines and fill in the spaces in between etc.