This morning I am sharing one of the projects from our Spring Bs Homeschool Companion unit, Bean Mosaic Artwork.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for an update on the new Simple Seasons Second Edition Homeschool Companion guides.

WARNING: It has been brought to our attention that uncooked red kidney beans are toxic. As few as 4 or 5 injested beans can cause food poisoning. You can read more about it here. http://extension.psu.edu/food/preservation/faq/raw-kidney-beans . Mixed beans have been used with young children for years, but now that we know that they can cause problems, we wish to bring it to your attention. If using beans with young children be sure to monitor them closely. Also, we recommend that you remove the red kidney beans from your mix, just to be safe. 

Materials:

  • Variety of colorful dried beans (you can buy a mixed bag of beans at the grocery store)
  • Craft glue
  • Heavy card stock or watercolor paper

Directions:

Fill a bowl with a variety of colorful dried beans.

Lay out a large sheet of heavy weight paper.

You can complete this project in several different ways.

Option One, which works well for younger students, help your child divide his page into large geometric designs with a light pencil. Cover one shape at a time with glue and choose one color of bean to fill in that area. When that area is completely filled in, choose another area and fill it in with a different type of bean. Continue in this manner, working on one area at a time, until the whole page is filled. This is a great activity for sorting.

 

Option Two, which works well for older children, let your child use the beans to create pictures and shapes organically. Your student can pre-draw an image (be sure to keep it simple) or work directly with the beans to create shapes and color blocks.