Ref. 71709-03THE magic of mosaics captured the imagination of children of all ages at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery in Bath Road.

"The mosaics come from Rome," said Matthew Birch, six. "I made a cat because I like them, but my dad is allergic to cats and dogs."

As the mounds of discarded scraps, sticky paper and glue sticks grew, revelling in the mess and encouraging the children for all she was worth was Elaine Bennett, 52.

"I've been working here for five years and I absolutely love it. This is the first time I've done a summer holiday event, I usually do school parties and trips. We started by teaching them about the history of mosaics and went from there."

Jade Pinnell, eight, reluctantly pulled away from her work of art to say: "I'm enjoying it. I'm making a cat because I've got two at home. They're called Frodo and Truffles."

Jack Cox, 11, was creating something slightly different, but no less inspired, by cutting an existing picture into squares and expanding it.

"This is the first thing I've done this summer, but I do a lot of arty things at home. I just made a mosaic at home so it was interesting to learn about them here."

A great day out was had by all the children and parents alike, as they re-entered their childhoods and created mosaics that were almost as spectacular as the children's.

Emma-Kate Lidbury