Gaudí Sun MosaicCOLOR, SHAPE & REPETITION

TIME REQUIRED: Two sessions @ 30 minutes

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I love the look of mosaics, but the thought of using a

million confetti-sized pieces of paper with kinders is a

little daunting. This project gives the look of a mosaic

without all of the small pieces.

By using sponges to stamp, students will have a

tactile experience, which is always a plus with

kindergartners. Students will use both warm and cool

colors to create contrast, letting the sun and sun rays

that they cut out really shine against their

background.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Antoni Gaudí is a Spanish architect who was well

known for his whimsical, detailed approach to

buildings and outdoor spaces, many in Barcelona,

Spain. Parc Güell is an outdoor park space in

Barcelona filled with colorful mosaics. Gaudí was very

focused on details and decorated every surface of his

buildings, including the ceilings, which is where the

inspiration for this lesson comes from. He featured

repeating mosaic suns on the undulating surface of

one of ceilings at Park Güell.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

12” x 12” black sulphite paper

9” x 12” white sulphite paper

Liquid tempera paint (warm

and cool colors)

Cosmetic sponges

Scissors and glue

Circle tracer (medium sized)

Gaudí Sun Mosaic

Gaudí, Antoni. Ceiling Tile in Parc Güell. Image from: wikipedia.org.

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Supply & Management TipsCosmetic sponges aren’t as porous as kitchen

sponges, so they give a much smoother look

when stamped. Cut the sponges to different

sizes and shapes, based on student ability level.

Mix up several versions of WARM and COOL

colors to add variety. Adding a bit of white to all

colors can help them stand out, especially

against black paper.

This would be a great project to use stations in

your art room; one station with warm colors,

one station with cool colors. This way you don’t

need to move the paint around the room,

students can simply stand up and transition

when they are finished. Since they are using

different paper colors, you can pass out the

paper at each station and collect the wet

paintings before they move.

WARM COLORS

COOL COLORS

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On the black paper, use cool colors to stamp the

mosaic. If the sponge is too full of paint, it will

slide across the paper, so encourage students not

to dip their sponge too far into the paint. Each

dip in the paint can print that shape several

times.

Try to use each color only once. Start by stamping

one color and REPEAT it randomly all over the

paper. Then pick another color and fill in some of

the empty spaces.

Repeat with all colors.

To really get the mosaic look, you will need to fill

as much space as you can without overlapping. I

like to encourage students to be “detectives”

and search for all of the empty spaces on their

page to fill with a stamped shape.

On the white paper, repeat the same process with

warm colors.

Set both pieces aside to dry.

Stamping the Mosaic

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Constructing the sun consists of students cutting

simple circle and triangle SHAPES.

Turn the white paper over to the back. Use a medium-

sized circle tracer and a pencil to draw the circle for

the sun. Make sure to leave room to cut out the sun’s

rays.

Cut out the circle and glue to the center of the black

mosaic paper. Using warm colors on top of cool colors

will create CONTRAST, which will help the sun stand

out.

Cut triangles out of the remaining paper. If they aren’t

exactly the same size or shape, that’s okay. This will

give the sun character and make each child’s artwork

unique.

Glue the triangles around the circle as the sun rays. If

students have different sized triangles, you can

encourage them to create a PATTERN.

Assembling the Sun1

2

3

4

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NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-kindergarten

CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — Exploration & imaginative play with

materials—Collaboratively engage in art-making in response to an artistic problem.

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — Experiment to build skills in art-making

through various media—Identify safe and non-toxic materials-create art of different

environments

Refine and complete artistic work—Explain process while creating art

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— Explain why artwork is

chosen for portfolio or personal display

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — Explain the purpose of a portfolio or

collection

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work — Explain what an art museum

is and why it is different from other buildings

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- Identify uses of art within one’s personal environment-

describe what an image represents Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — Interpret art by identifying subject matter

and describing relevant details

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— Explain reasons for selecting a preferred artwork

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- Create art that

tells a story about a life experience Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding —Identify a purpose of an artwork

X

X

X

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CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.2 Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.

You can emphasize this standard by having students name the shapes they are using throughout the

entire artwork, even though they are in all sorts of colors and sizes. This could either be done during

the stamping process or after the collages are finished with the shapes used for the sun.

CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.5 Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a

rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number

from 1-20, count out that many objects.

This could be interpreted in many different ways in this project; you could have student count how

many red (or any other color) shapes they have on their stamped page, or they could count the

number of sun rays that they cut out when they are finished.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a

reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference

about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is…).

Students address this standard when completing the artist statement worksheet (located in Teacher

Aids). They are writing their opinion about the artwork they made based on how it was created and

how they were inspired.

Common core standards for GAUDI SUN MOSAIC

I CAN STATEMENTS FOR GAUDI SUN MOSAIC

• Today I will learn about COLOR so that I CAN use both WARM and COOL colors to stamp my

mosaic, which will help to give CONTRAST to my final artwork.

• Today I will learn about REPETITION so that I CAN create a MOSAIC by STAMPING with various

colors and shapes that fill my paper.

• Today I will learn about SHAPE so that I CAN cut and assemble my sun COLLAGE using circles

and triangles.

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ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Student Name:

Did the student create repetition by stamping colors and shapes to fill their paper?

Can the student identify both warm and cool colors?

Did the student cut a circle and triangles to assemble their sun mosaic and glue them securely to their paper?

Main Ideas from:

GAUDI SUN MOSAIC