Have you ever made a bean mosaic? I hadn’t, but I had seen them and kept the idea tucked in the back of my mind. Mosaics are fun to make- relaxing; rhythmic. I like to think they help promote patience in kids, but I have nothing to back that up with…
Here I’ll show you how to make a mosaic using dried beans and legumes in the form of a lovely fall leaf. I even have a printout you can download if you or your kids don’t want to draw your own leaf.
Fen and I worked on this like a jigsaw puzzle, sort of coming and going over the course of 2 days, adding beans whenever the mood struck.
Bean Mosaic
Materials:
- Piece of cardboard
- Glue (we used Aleene’s Tacky Glue)
- Printout of leaf (or you can draw your own)
- Beans and legumes (we used green and yellow split peas, white beans, kidney beans and black beans)
Directions:
Gather your beans and glue the leaf printout onto the cardboard. We used Mod Podge, since I can’t stand using Elmer’s on paper. Let it dry completely. Alternatively, if your child is feeling adventurous, let them draw a leaf onto a piece of paper and glue it onto the cardboard. Add in a border line if so desired.
We started by using the black beans to outline the leaf and the border. Lay down a nice fat line of glue and add the beans, one by one.
Next we added in some leaf veins with green split peas.
We filled in the leaf with red at the bottom, yellow at the top, and a mixture in the middle.
Now for the great expanse of background… we globbed out lines of glue starting around the leaf and working out toward the border.
We ended up using about half the bottle of glue. For reals.
Here’s the finished bean mosaic, and check out the fancy outside border!
How about a delicious-looking bean soup recipe for all of those leftovers?
Comments
0 comments
Great project! I love dried beans. I guess you just have to make sure you don’t get this project wet or you’ll have a bean garden, hehe!
You are a nut. Actually, now that makes me wonder about making a bean mosaic in a sponge and soaking it to make a weird science/art project. It would probably be mass bean-shoot chaos, though!
I love the way your fall bean leaf turned out! I might have to add this to our Fall Bucket List as I am 33 and can’t remember ever doing one of these! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to link up at my Homeschool Linky Party! Hope to see you again next week!
Hey. Keisha! We had fun working with a new material and mosaics always turn out interesting. Hope you try one!
This is gorgeous! I think my son would love this 🙂
What a beautiful project! I can’t wait to share it with my daughter, she’ll want to get started on it right away.
Fabulous fabulous…fabulous. We are doing this. Definitely. Thanks so much for sharing this great project on the homeschoollinkup.
I love it – and it’s perfect for fall (and not too messy) :).
You are awesome, Jeannette!
I appreciate that you linked this project up!
This brings me back to when I did these kind of mosiacs as a kid. I love all the colors and textures of the different beans. And afterwards, you can make chile with the leftovers!!
I wish I knew how to add a picture so I could show you the 3×3 murals our classes make for the annual Grape Festival in our town. Technically they are commodity murals with the purpose of showcasing the huge variety of agricultural products grown in the San Joaquin Valley but they are often made largely of various beans.
Hi Jeanette – I just left you a comment back on my site re: linking back to my project. All is good with that. Just saw this project, though, and it completely took me back to my childhood!! I remember doing these as kids. Will definitely be re-creating this one with my daughter. Thanks for the inspiration.
Lisa
Oh, Lisa- thanks for getting back to me so fast! I’m excited to include your project. I’m getting that reaction a lot with the bean project- it seems to be nostalgic for a lot of people. Have fun doing this with your daughter!