My budding little mosaic artist

For over a year now, Isabella has sat with me in my shed, which is my mosaic studio, watching while I make stuff. I would give her tiles to stick her own pieces on (just like mummy) and she made her first mosaic last September when she was just gone two and a half years - here's the
picture (complete with cheeky grin!) ...

Because mosaics is a big part of my world, it is part of hers too and she is slowly learning the words associated with it - it is quite strange hearing a 3 year old say the word 'mosaic' - mo-say-ik - and even more startling from my 2 year old!. She has recently learnt the word 'grout' and watched me with great interest grouting a new piece the other day, part of a tryptych called "From the Rising of the Sun" which I have made for a forthcoming exhibition. Of course, having seen me getting this squishy stuff and squeeze it into the gaps, she was desperate to have a go - too much fun to be had... Having duly explained to her about the importance of wearing a mask when mixing the grout powder she stood there, acting like my health and safety officer and telling me to put my mask on otherwise "it is dayngerus mummy" (mosaic artists, take heed!). Then, she donned the oversize latex gloves and with glee, starting squishing and squashing the grout in the gaps of the last piece of my tryptych. It was lovely watching her both enjoy herself and feel so grown up and like mummy.

My intention is to find lots of ways to teach a love of colour, material and mosaics to my children, adapting techniques to suit their ages. If anyone has ideas or experience of this I would love to hear from you.