Colouring seems to be the topic of conversation these days. It’s a great developmental tool for kids, a tool they love, and I’m sure you’ve read about the benefits of adults getting in on the colouring act. Halloween is the perfect time to work on a colouring project together, like this Mosaic Pumpkin.
Unlike just colouring a picture we incorporated a little challenge into our art similar to the idea we did for Melissa & Doug using chalk. The best images to use for this project are simple outlines like those found in colourng books for young kids or the Halloween printables from Priddy Books. You don’t want a lot of detail as the mosaic will provide the detail in the end. We used this simple Jack-o-Lantern image.
Using a black marker and a ruler, start to draw straight lines across your image, avoiding areas you aren’t going to be colouing, like the open areas in the pumpkin’s eyes and mouth. The number of lines you draw will depend on how many mosaic spaces you want on your image. Watch where you place your lines to avoid too many really tiny spaces to colour. This becomes more of an challange as you add more lines. Just move your ruler around at different angles to vary the size and shape of the spaces you will colour.
As we were working on a pumpkin, we picked out a colour range consisting of orange, brown, yellow and red. Something very intune with fall and pumpkins. With my set of 12 pencil crayons that gave me four different colours but that number can vary depending on the total number of colours you’re working with.
Then the fun begins.
Start at one side of your photo and colour in one mosaic shape. The only rule we apply for this exercise is that no two colours can touch. We discounted the corners touching since we only had 4 colours to work with. At first this is easy, you just rotate through your colours as you move from space to space. As more colours fill your pumpkin you’ll have to think carefully as to which colour to choose next. Keep colouring until the whole images is filled.
As our pumpkin image had leaves, we drew a new set of lines on each leaf and worked with our green colour palette.
I love this activity for so many reasons:
- The final artwork looks fabulous and colourful
- Colouring little spaces versus a large space can be easier on those with shorter attention spans (kids and parents) plus detailed colouring can offer it’s own challenge
- It takes some thought when it comes to planning your colours to achieve the desired look and follow the rule about touching colours
- The mosaic can be customized for each person depending on how detailed that person wants to get. Less lines and shapes for younger kids and more for older ones. Kids can even work with the ruler and marker to draw the intersecting lines. It’s an activity the whole family can work on together.
Before you know it you’ll have your own pumpkin patch to decorate your house. How are you getting ready for Halloween?