Back to School Craft: Magazine Mosaic Apple

School starts soon and we have been decorating our house with apple décor. I always incorporate the kids artwork into the mix. I'm sure there are many home design influencers who are appalled at that, but I think it can be done tastefully. The kids made mosaics for the 4th of July in 2021, and I don't think we had made a mosaic since. It was time. Another reason I chose this project - my 3 year old has really been wanting to learn to use scissors. This project is great for that because the pieces can be cut in any shape! He and I spent time on how to hold the scissors. He did great to remember the thumb goes on top, but if you have a little one who needs a reminder, you can make a little smiley face on his or her thumbnail.

This article may contain affiliate links. DM may earn a small commission at no cost to the reader. Thank you for your support. On to the details of the craft....

Supplies

1. 2 sheets of cardstock

2. Pencil

3. Scissors

4. Old magazines

5. Choice of glue - we used glue sticks.

6. Brown marker - optional

Directions

1. I just free-handed an apple with a pencil on a piece of cardstock.

2. Cut out red pieces/pictures of magazine. You can cut red areas in all different shapes or use the natural shape of the red item i.e. tomato, watermelon, book etc. You can use as much of other colors as desired. We tried to not include more than bits of other colors. My only suggestion is to make sure to have some rounded sides for roundish areas of the apple. (But, you can always tailor that later.) My boys and I had a good time searching through the magazines for red items and cutting them out. We primarily used Highlights and National Geographic Kids, which I highly recommend subscriptions too. But for this project even ads in the mail will work. We placed all the red pieces on a paper plate so they didn't get mixed up with other cuttings.

3. Cut a few green pieces.

4. Glue pieces into the apple shape. Now, the age of the child working will dictate how this process goes. My 6 and 8 year old can line up the magazines pieces to the edge of the drawing fairly well. My 3 year old, I had to guide a bit. I gave him big pieces and steered him more towards the middle. Even still there was one piece he insisted on placing that didn't follow the shape. See picture below. No worries. If you have a young one that glues all the pieces beyond the lines, just cut the shape out when they are finished. I only had to fine tune a bit because we were all working together, but that's still what I did here.

5. Optional- cut out the apple and glue it to another piece of cardstock - any color!

6. Color your stem with brown marker. (Or, if you have the energy mosaic it.)

Happy Apple Season! If you haven't tasted my healthy-ish mini no bake apple cheesecakes, give them a try!

Dragon Mama