Materials
Prerequisite: Children need to be able to pick up small things with tweezers.
Get children to collect seeds as it helps them become aware of their environment. They can be stored in egg cartons or jars. It is a good hygiene practice to allow the seeds to dry before you start making pictures with them. We are going to use color, texture and size to create pictures.
Presentation
1. Collect seeds and keep them in separate containers. You might provide the child a box with four storage compartments. At first, limit the number of seeds.
2. The child picks up the seeds, daubs glue on one side and presses them on paper. Smaller seeds can be picked up with tweezers.
Use strong cardboard. Natural colors are nice to to start with. If you want to create a long-lasting picture, use wood.
Exercise 1
Do simple exercises to understand media. At first, use small pieces of paper. Paste down rows of seeds, possibly a nice large seed like a pumpkin, all going the same way. In the next row, perhaps use sunflower seeds. In doing this, the child learns to handle material. Then he can progress to more intricate shapes.
Exercise 2
1. Make circles and fill them in, working symmetrically.
2. Make flower shapes and patterns. Begin in the middle and work
out or being with outline and then fill in.
Exercise 3
The child can draw a design or simple picture, and fill it in with seeds. With larger seeds, it works well to give the child a small container of glue, and a cotton swab to "paint" each seed with glue. For smaller seeds, the child could apply glue to a section of the board and then stick down the seeds.
The child needs to try combinations of color, shape and size. The choice of subject is up to the child.
If you wish to preserve the picture, you need to cover it with clear varnish in a very well ventilated area.
Variations:
These same excercises can be done with other materials such as: shells, rocks, etc..