Each year my 3rd graders do the Worldwide Color Wheel Project. We did this stunning collaborative mosaic table using the color wheel as inspiration. You can see the waves of color, in color wheel order, splashing across the table. In the middle of the tabletop there is a globe and also the words, World Full of Color. We also painted the ...
...legs and sides of the table using the three primary and three secondary colors in color wheel order. I really wanted to do a picnic table, but would you believe it? I couldn't find a wooden picnic table in Dallas anywhere. I'm not sure what big event was going on in Dallas, but someone had gone to all the home improvement and unfinished furniture stores and purchased all the picnic tables. So, with literally one weekend to find the table before we started working on it, I changed plans and shopped intently around an unfinished furniture store for something that would work and that wasn't too expensive. This extra tall wooden table won the prize. In order to make the mosaic, we first drew the design with a pencil on the tabletop. Then, using adhesive and a wide variety of glass tiles, the students laid the glass tiles down into the adhesive, trying to keep a uniform space between them. After the tiles had dried we rubbed a white grout over the tiles and into all the grooves between them. This part was a bit challenging as it must be done in a certain amount of time and the excess grout rubbed off before it dries. Of course, it can still be rubbed off the glass tiles after it dries. That's just more difficult. The students really enjoyed the project and I really think they could hardly believe they had made this beautiful piece of furniture. Aside from the cost of the table and glass tiles, the project really was pretty easy to do. Here are some process photos of the table being made:
...legs and sides of the table using the three primary and three secondary colors in color wheel order. I really wanted to do a picnic table, but would you believe it? I couldn't find a wooden picnic table in Dallas anywhere. I'm not sure what big event was going on in Dallas, but someone had gone to all the home improvement and unfinished furniture stores and purchased all the picnic tables. So, with literally one weekend to find the table before we started working on it, I changed plans and shopped intently around an unfinished furniture store for something that would work and that wasn't too expensive. This extra tall wooden table won the prize. In order to make the mosaic, we first drew the design with a pencil on the tabletop. Then, using adhesive and a wide variety of glass tiles, the students laid the glass tiles down into the adhesive, trying to keep a uniform space between them. After the tiles had dried we rubbed a white grout over the tiles and into all the grooves between them. This part was a bit challenging as it must be done in a certain amount of time and the excess grout rubbed off before it dries. Of course, it can still be rubbed off the glass tiles after it dries. That's just more difficult. The students really enjoyed the project and I really think they could hardly believe they had made this beautiful piece of furniture. Aside from the cost of the table and glass tiles, the project really was pretty easy to do. Here are some process photos of the table being made:
