Bean Mosaic Project Collage

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Bean Mosaic Project Collage

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

WARNING: It has been brought to our attention that uncooked red kidney beans are toxic. As few as 4 or 5 ingested 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.

Bean Mosaic Project 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.

bean mosaic collage

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.

bean mosaic project

Have fun and be creative with your bean mosaic project!

2 Comments

  1. I have seen projects and sensory boards that used dry beans and always point out that uncooked and undercooked beans contain toxins that are highly  poisonous and if a young child should ingest one it could cause food poisoning especially red kidney beans. Google extension.psu.edu/food/preservation /faq/raw-kidney-beans for complete details on why dry beans should not be used for projects with young children,

    1. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Amy. I’ve used mixed beans with young children for 40 years and have never that any children ingest them, but now that I know that eating several raw red kidney beans can cause food poisoning, I have included a warning with our project and have suggested adults remove the red kidney beans from bean mixes. Thanks, again. ~Kimara~

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