Mosaic Mural

What You Need:

• A board or piece of heavy cardboard for the “blank wall”
• Scrap paper such as ads and magazines in a variety of colors
• Scissors
• Mod Podge
• Paintbrush
• Photograph or drawing
• Black crayon
• Sharp pencil

1. The first step in any mosaic is a plan. What piece of artwork does your child want to create? He can use a photograph (for a micro-mural) or a drawing. Make certain it's on regular printer paper so that you can turn it into a pattern.
2. Using a black crayon, have your child color heavily on the back of the drawing or photograph. This is the pigment that he will transfer to his work surface.
3. Lay the drawing or photo on the board. Instruct him to use the pencil to firmly trace the image. Remind him to look beneath the paper occasionally and make sure he is pressing hard enough with the pencil so that the pattern is transferring.
4. Now, sort through the newspaper ads or old magazines to find paper that's the right color for the mural. Working in one place, such as on a person’s hair, cut and fit the paper to the area to be covered. Your kid may have to position the paper on the mural and then trim it again. It's often easiest to use multiple pieces of paper instead of one big piece of paper to cover an area.  
5. Brush Mod Podge onto the appropriate area and glue the pieces of paper into place.
6. Remind your child to take breaks as needed to let his piece dry. He may decide to leave some areas of the board showing in his final piece of artwork as we did for the boy’s skin and background.
7. Let the mosaic dry and then brush one more layer of Mod Podge over the entire piece.