Mosaics are works of art created by using glass, stone or ceramic tiles and grout to make a picture. Mosaics adorned the walls, floors and ceilings of many Roman villas and public places and they are still popular today. Roman artists “painted” with stone, using small, vivid tesserae (tiles). Mosaics are among the best-preserved of all forms of Roman art. The discovery of mosaics by archaeologists has provided evidence of where and how people in Roman times lived, worked, and thought, and the use of mosaics parallels the vast spread of the Roman empire.
Y4 really enjoyed trying their hand at making a mosaic.
After looking at a range of different Roman mosaics, children sketched their own idea for a mosaic design in their sketchbooks and used squares of paper and glue to experiment with creating their design.
After this, they experimented with tesserae (small clay tiles) to create a design on a coaster sized base. Where it was necessary, they cut the tiles to fit their image as the Romans would have done. They carefully pieced their chosen tiles together using PVA glue and we mixed and used grout to fill the gaps. Y4 were very pleased with their results.
