60 children in Year 6 from Crown Lane Primary School in London created this bright and lovely mosaic mural in their playground. They spent a week of uninterrupted fun, learning the fantastic skills of mosaics and outdoor mural painting.

The mural was to coincide with the Streatham Festival which took place in July 2009 and the children worked like busy bees to have the mural finished in one week. Much to everyone's delight (staff, parents and children), the project was completed on time and their gorgeous mural transformed the playground into a beautiful space full of energy and colors.

• Mural A to Z: Click here if you wish to read more about how the mural was planned and executed.


Click on any picture below to view details. These pictures were taken by the children working on the mural.

Based on the curriculum and in collaboration with the school's Deputy Head and the Art Coordinator, we chose the theme for the mural to be "life in water".

On the morning of the first day the children were briefed on what we are planning to create in their playground and detailed colored sketches were shown to them, this is very useful in helping them visualise what they would be working towards.

We talked and learned about color theory and painting techniques, they learned about the different brushes we would use and the best way to apply the paint. The children also learned to distinguish between the various types of mosaic tiles that we would use for the final mural : vitreous glass tiles, beads, pebbles, and household ceramic tiles.

The children learned about the mortar based adhesives we will use and were given a crash course on grouting. They also learned about cutting tools and various ways to use nippers to cut the tiles to the desired shape. The direct method and the indirect mosaic method to mosaic work were both explained to the children and ultimately used to complete the final mural.

The children were then split into 6 groups, and each group was allocated a very specific task. their collaborative effort was to result in the final mosaic mural. This helps the children work in teams and understand the importance of team effort in any large scale artistic endeavor.


In the classroom, group 1 created the giant dolphin butterfly using the indirect or reverse method. The dolphin and butterfly (measuring around 2 x 1 meters each) were sketched onto kraft paper and laid on a hard surface.

The children cut and temporarily fix the vitreous glass tiles and glass beads pieces right side down onto the removable backing (kraft paper). The 2 designs were then cut into small manageable pieces of no more than 8 x 8 inches big. Each piece was clearly labelled to make sure we can re-assemble the final designs in the right order to reveal the dolphin or the butterfly, a bit like a puzzle.


This group's task was to continue the job started by group 1. On day 5, the pieces of the butterfly and dolphin that were prepared by group 1, were pre-grouted and then pressed into a prepared adhesive bed.

Once the adhesive was set, the kraft paper was removed carefully with a wet sponge to expose the design, which is now right side up. The final piece is then grouted, and once dried the tiles were polished to reveal the lovely butterfly and the dolphin.


This group was selected to complete the mosaic designs on the outdoor mural using the direct method. The children used glass beads, pebbles and household ceramic tiles which were broken and smoothed to create thousands of small tesserae pieces.

The sea creatures were sketched onto the wall and their outlines were carefully covered with builder's tape which would ensure that the adhesive does not extend over the boundaries of the design.

Some mortar based adhesive was mixed and the children learned how to apply it onto the wall using a trowel. The children fixed the pieces of material directly right side up onto the wall, and when the mortar was set, they grouted the final design. Later on, they took great pleasure in peeling off the builder's tape and polishing the tiles to reveal their fantastic creations!

This Group were the little painters who prepped the wall and painted the backdrop to the mosaic: a lovely sky and turquoise waves, as well as a bright yellow sun and a giant green wale. We used water soluble paint which is non-toxic and sealed it with a weatherproof solution to make sure it withstands British weather.


Group 5 were the little builders. Their primary job was to mix small batches of the mortar based adhesive and the grout for groups 1, 2 and 3. They made sure the tools were cleaned regularly and the batches were mixed to perfection.

This is the "press" group as they liked to call themselves. They were given a set of digital cameras and video cameras and were taught how to use them. They thoroughly enjoyed playing around with composition and various features and some have displayed a great interest in taking up photography as a hobby! Those children took a total of 375 pictures, some of which are displayed in the picture gallery above.