Ages 2 to 4
You have a pack of little princesses over for a party, now how to entertain them? With a sparkly princess craft of course! Self-stick sparkle craft foam makes great mosaic material, and it's as fun to work with as it is simple. You can make this project simple, or a little more complex, depending on the amount of time you want to fill.
by Heather Mann
What you'll need
- 1 princess image (use a printable or an original drawing on card stock)
- sheets of sparkly self-stick craft foam in various colors (pink, magenta, white, lavender, etc.)
- scissors
Helpful Tip:
- Party Organization Tips: Pre-cut the "mosaic tiles", and have them available and grouped together in plastic party bowls by color and shape. Provide a workspace for artists: a table covered with a pink tablecloth is great. The stickers have backings that have to be peeled off, so they will generate a little bit of garbage—be sure to designate a small receptacle on the workspace for trash and scraps. A pink can or jar decorated with a sparkly mosaic border can make a fun on-table trash can.
- Be sure to have enough mosaics for each princess to fill up her dress. You will need at least one 8x10 sheet of foam material per girl, and pre-cut enough mosaics. Provide scissors for the princesses to modify the foam mosaics, if desired.
- Introduce Mosaics: It might help your artists to have a very short introduction to mosaics before they begin. Ask them if anyone knows what mosaics are, and then make sure they know that mosaics are a form of art where an image is formed by putting small squares next to each other ("painting with squares"). Tell them that they are going to paint their princess dresses with sticker mosaics.
- Time Needed: If you want to fill about 30 minutes, have the princess image pre-printed on card stock. If you have more time for the activity, have the girls draw original princess pictures to decorate with the mosaics.
- Party Favors: To turn the activity into a party favor: provide dollar store frames to frame the princess pictures in. Before the party, you might want to paint the frames to match the party colors. For a personalized touch, write each party goer's name on her frame with a paint marker.
- Adapt This Activity: You can turn any coloring page or image into a mosaic activity, so this idea will work for nearly any party theme. Just find an image that goes along with your theme, and cut mosaics in colors that complement your topic.
How to make it
1. To find an image of a princess, you can either print up a ready-made printable picture, tear a page from a coloring book, use your own drawing, or have your child draw a picture of a princess. The larger and simpler, the better.
2. Cut out "mosaic tiles" from the sparkly self-stick craft foam. Use the variety of colors and experiment with different shapes. I cut 1/2-inch Squares from plain pink and magenta sparkle craft foam, and rectangle strips 2-inches long and 1/4-inch wide from cream sparkle craft foam.
3. You can precut pieces for your child, or give her child-safe scissors and let her cut some shapes (with your close supervision). Let your child know she can cut the foam into smaller pieces or different shapes to fit her princess.
4. Stick mosaic stickers onto the princess image in a pattern.
Crafts
