Mosaic Craft: Learning about the Byzantine Emprire and Mosaics

My boys and I are studying the Middle Ages right now.
We were fascinated with the incredible mosaic displays of the Byzantine Empire. Talk about patient artists!

We did some internet research, looked at incredible mosaic designs (like in the Hagai Sophia!)

So we decided to give this type of art a try.
We collected and painted eggs shells (using nail polish borrowed from a friend with girls), then began creating our own terra cotta pot designs.

The kids loved this activity so much!

It is funny how easy it is to bypass the messy crafty things with our kids and to opt for the quick “read and discuss” strategy. Things like this take time.
It took us two weekends to collect and wash enough eggshells for 3 boys, another few days to paint them (since we opted for nail polish it was stinky!), and then 3 sittings so far to work on the actual mosaics.

We have had many discussions as the boys work about how incredible the ancient mosaics are and they are beginning to truly understand that they did not just “happen”.

I created an activity packet to go along with our Story of the World study.
The inspiration for this packet and activity is from chapter 4, in case you too are reading Story of the World with your kiddos.

You can get your copy by clicking on the image.