Tile mosaic was our latest craft experiment. The kids really enjoyed making light switches for their room.
To start, we lightly sanded plastic light switch covers so that the grout and tile and glass pieces would stick better to the plastic. Next we picked out tile pieces to fit onto the covers. We glued them down with regular white glue. The idea is to get lots of pieces of tile on the cover, but leaving about ΒΌ of inch of space for the grout later on. That concept was a hard one for my younger children to understand. They wanted to cover every single space with the colored glass and tile pieces. They also wanted to put little pieces on first, and then didn’t have room for the larger pieces. It’s all a learning process though. And since the glue hadn’t dried yet we were able to pick off pieces and reposition. Do remember to leave spaces for the light switch and the screw holes.
An hour later the glue was dry and it was time for grout. Again, my children objected to covering the pretty tile with ugly old grout. The grout was hard for them to work with too. After the grout dried we wet a sponge and cleaned off the tiles. We had enough extra grout to do a terra cotta flower pot.
I have a few cautions for doing this project with children. Some of the tile pieces were quite sharp. We managed to do the project without cuts, but we had to be very careful. I wouldn’t try it with children younger than ten. Also the grout is messy and sticky, and hard to work with. We are very pleased with our finished projects though, and we may try something bigger next time.
Also See:
Loom Knitting – Fun For All Ages