Mother’s Day

This Sunday is Mother’s Day! I wanted to make sure all of our kids’ classes made a craft of some kind for their moms. One of the things I really wanted to do this year was find crafts that weren’t so… useless is the wrong word, I know moms love each and every single thing that their kids make for them, but you can only have so many drawings of flowers made out of a handprint, etc.

Anyway. So I scoured the internet and Pinterest to find some creative ideas for crafts that had a little more of a keepsake value (while still being simple enough to do in a fairly short amount of time in a large group setting). So here’s what I came up with!

For our toddler class (2-3 year olds): 

I found a simple coloring page online (Google image search), added “Happy Mother’s Day” in Photoshop, and the kids will color it in class. To make it more of a craft (but again, keeping it simple for this young age), the kids will paste bits of tissue paper on the flowers. I know this craft isn’t as “useful” as I stated earlier, but I figure for this age it’s ok. 🙂

For our preschool class (4-5 year olds):

I love this craft that I found on pinterest for a Baby Food Jar Candle Holder. Fairly simple, but definitely a keepsake and cute decoration for the home! I might make some for myself at some point–different color schemes for different seasons, that sort of thing. All you need are empty baby food jars, colored tissue paper, glue, and maybe ribbon. You put watered-down glue (or Mod Podge) on the outside of the jar, lay small squares of the tissue paper on the glue, creating a stained glass look, then add some more glue on top of the paper to seal it in. Sponge brushes work great. Be gentle with the glue or it can tear the tissue paper. You can add an optional ribbon around the brim. Then put a votive candle inside!

For our elementary class (K-5th grade):

I discovered Shrinky Dinks last week. And I can’t believe I never did them as a kid! I was always into craft kits and everything, and these are great. I bought some at Michaels: I got the blank sheets for some kids to create their own images as well as a kit for some of the younger kids or those who don’t want to draw on their own. I also plan to have some images available for kids to trace. All you need is colored pencils, Shrinky Dink material, and an oven. We have a fairly big toaster oven that we are going to bring over. It only takes about 2 minutes for each image to shrink! Once the kids have created their images, they will have the option of making a keychain, necklace, or magnet for their mom. To make a keychain or necklace, simply use a hole-punch on the image before baking. Keychains require a bigger hole than a standard hole punch. For the magnets, we’ll just hot-glue a magnet piece onto the back once it’s cool.

Here’s the sample ones my mother-in-law and I made last week. 🙂

 

If you’re reading this, I hope it helped you come up with some ideas! Feel free to share your other ideas for simple and cute Mother’s Day crafts!

 

POST-MOTHER’S DAY UPDATE:

All the parents of our elementary school kids LOVED their Shrinky Dink gifts! I found these adorable gift bags for the kids to put them in. We had probably 25-30 kids each service, and using a fairly large toaster oven, that whole craft took about 20 minutes. It was a little hectic, but very fun.

The votive candles was a cute craft for the younger kids as well! It got pretty messy, so be warned, but ended in a cute result. I didn’t get enough baby food jars donated, so I just went to Walmart and got some simple, small, glass votive candle holders. They were 77¢ each. Michaels also carries a similar product for around 99¢.