The Incredible Egg – Eggshell Mosaics

Art
Time 30 minutes
Age 7 & up
Group Size Less than 10
Tags Art, Eggs, Glue,   more...
Individual Patterns

Create beautiful mosaic patterns...with eggs!

Mosaics are traditionally created using small pieces of material like glass, stone, etc. to make colorful, often intricate patterns.  In this activity, colored and white eggshells are used to produce a similar effect.  Spring is a time of rebirth and renewal—and eggs!  Many animals lay and incubate eggs in the spring, and in some cultures spring is a time in which kids paint, hide and eat lots of eggs.  This makes it a great time to not only take a close look at eggs, but also to experiment with some of the things we can do with them.  This activity is part of the Incredible Egg series of activities, which are designed to be done during the Spring—start your students off with some of the “egg science” activities, then move on to egg art, and finally take the Egg Drop Challenge!

Preparation

See the instructions for The Incredible Egg for preparations regarding all of the activities in this series. For this activity, gather the materials needed. It might also be helpful for you to create your own mosaic first for children to see as an example. For the small mosaics that your students will be making, it is best to not create intricate images, but rather simple ones with large spaces filled with different colored shells.

Make sure to try out all of the other “Incredible Egg” activities:

Egg Science:

Egg Art:

Culminating Activity:

The Incredible Egg – Eggshell Mosaics
Share Print

Suggested Materials

  • Colored crushed eggshells (see Preparationin The Incredible Egg for instructions on making these)
  • White glue
  • Cardboard, thick construction paper, or pieces of wood (4” X 6” or 5” X 7”, 1 or 2 inches thick)
  • Thin markers
1

Make it Matter

Opening Discussion

Ask your students if they have ever heard of a mosaic. How about tiles? Some students may have tiles in their bathroom at home. These are usually laid out in a straight up and down grid, but sometimes they have different colors or patterns. Mosaics are kind of like that, but much more colorful and creative. Mosaics are usually made by gluing small pieces of stone or glass in patterns or pictures. Tell your students that they will be making these pieces of art with colorful eggshells.

The Challenge

Create a beautiful piece of art with eggshells!

2

Make it Happen

Doing the Activity

  1. Students should work individually on this project. If you have the time, make an eggshell mosaic before doing this activity so you can show it to your students.
  2. Have each student draw a design on the cardboard, paper or wood with a thin marker or pencil. They can draw anything that they would like—you can leave it open-ended or you could present a theme (like Spring or family). The best eggshell mosaics are made with drawings that have many different colors, and lots of open spaces to fill in with those colors, so look for children making stick drawings or other drawings without much colorful space, and show them your mosaic as an example of a drawing that makes a colorful mosaic.
  3. Once the drawings are done, have students fill one part of it in with glue and sprinkle a chosen eggshell color onto the glue. Do the same for a new area with a different color. When the glue has dried students will have beautiful eggshell mosaics to show off!
3

Make it Click

Let’s Talk About It

Was it difficult or easy to make the kind of mosaic they wanted to? Does anyone have any tips on how to create detailed or small areas, like thin lines of the colored eggshells? Any other ideas for how to make a good eggshell mosaic?

4

Make it Better

Build On What They Talked About

If you have the resources, you can encourage children to create another mosaic, building upon what they learned when they made their first one.

Suggestions

Print Friendly