As any parent who has shopped with a child in tow will know, there’s methods and strategies we employ to keep our little ones content and happy while we get done what needs to get done. Maybe it’s the promise of a treat at the end for them, maybe a trip to the play ground if they’re patient, offer the best crafts for adults that kids may enjoy, maybe a browse of the toy section before you leave, or maybe, if you’re at the hardware store, it’s the promise of a fist full of free paint swatch samples to take home!
I had to go to Bunnings recently, which as I’ve said before is the Australian equivalent of Home Depot and the hardware store depicted in the Bluey episode Hammerbarn. I had my daughter with me as we entered this gargantuan store, and between trying to find the various items I was looking for and the sheer size of the store, we were in there a good while. My daughter is nine, and patient, but still has her limits for standing around waiting for me to choose what I wanted, but I had already promised her when we got in there that we could go by the paint section before we leave and get paint swatches! Initially she seemed a little baffled why I would think this was something she would want to do (it was pre-pandemic the last time I took her to Bunnings, so she didn’t really remember it), but when we rounded the corner and she saw the wall of pretty colours, she was thrilled to pick out a bouquet of ones she liked, and to pick ones she thought I would like.
Once we were home with our pockets full of paint swatches, and she had shown all her choices to Daddy, we then wondered what to do with them. We couldn’t not make use of these pretty pops of colour, so I decided we’d do something crafty with them, of course, and mosaic seemed the perfect thing.
What you’ll need:
- Paint Swatches
- Coloured card or paper, craft paper, or copy paper
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Creativity!
What to do:
Cut up all the paint swatches into roughly equal squares, making piles of similar coloured tiles.
Show your little crafter how to run the back of each paint swatch tile across the top of the glue stick and stick them down on the paper. My daughter tried both ways of glueing, onto the tiles themselves or onto the coloured card, and she said she very much preferred glueing each piece rather than on the card.
Whilst your little artist is engaging in the activity, you could also take it as an opportunity to talk about what mosaics are and where in the world they’re found. We also talked about how mosaics are made up of tiny pieces of tile called tessera.
My daughter had a lot of fun with this activity and let me know she plans on doing more mosaics with the left over tiles, or tessera, in the future!
