Construction paper mosaics

We've been wending our way through ancient Rome these past many weeks, and with all the rain clouding our days recently we've taken to the craft room more than we usually do during spring and summer. Or actually, this week's mosaic making found us on the kitchen floor where it was not only flat, but also more naturally lit right next to the sliding door (and these were very dark days indeed).

I had asked Calvin to go through our library books on Ancient Rome and pick out some fun activities. Mosaics were one of the things that had caught his eye. The book directions were for using clay, and some day we'd like to try that, but this time we created a fish mosaic of construction paper, cut into relatively equal squares with a paper cutter, adhered to poster board by glue stick. Calvin penciled in the design first while I started cutting squares. He found that it was easier to apply the glue to the poster board than to the small squares (less glue on the fingers that way, he says, although not by much). He glued small areas, then affixed as many squares as needed to cover that glue, then moved on to the next small area. I did most, but not all, of the cutting, and his favorite part was using the tiny scraps from specifically cut shapes to fill in gaps.

This was a three day project, mostly because all that cutting and gluing gets very tedious, and it was a great way to spend a few really crummy days.