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Mother's Day

Mother’s Day gifts

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Sometimes the best projects are the easiest projects. The ones that can last forever are even better. Using permanent markers to draw on ceramic plates and then putting the plates in the oven will make the designs stay put.Put your ceramic plates to the test with pretend play pasta! Roll and stamp your way to early math exploration with a <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/pasta-making-and-shapes-project-kit/4576" target="_self">Fun Dough Pasta Maker</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Start by gathering up the supplies. Sharpie markers (permanent markers) come in a million different colors these days so we used an array of colors. We also picked up some (nice and cheap) plates from the dollar store. Any white or light-colored ceramic plate will do. 

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After making sure the kids understood that the plates were the only canvas for using the permanent markers, I let the kids go wild with design. They loved the idea of designing their own plates. My five-year-old made a plate for his teacher's Christmas gift this year. It was fun to see how thoughtful he was with the design. My three-year-old added more abstract scribbles, but both designs captured the stage of life they are in. 

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Then I put the plates in a preheated (350 degree) oven and baked them for 30 minutes. After letting them cool, they were good to go. The plates were dishwasher safe, food safe, and one -of-a-kind. 

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This may be the kids' most favorite project to date. They love their new plates and want to make one for everyone else for Christmas now too. Good thing they are cheap and easy to make. 

ceramic plate

permanent markers (e.g. sharpies)

Decorated Ceramic Plates

homemade craft

Every time your mom goes to light this candle, she'll think of you thanks to the do-it-yourself candle art. You can transform any plain candle into a personalized candle for mom. We added lots of flower, hearts, and Mother's Day phrases to our candles! What does your mom like?Spice up your art with some slime! <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/chalkboard-slime-project-kit/2095" target="_self">Chalkboard &amp; Glow Slime</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store</a> stretches your chemistry and doodling muscles with two kinds of slime all in one hands-on kit.

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First, think of a design to draw. Make sure the design can fit on your candle. If you would like, you can print out our traceable <a href="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.kiwicrate.com/printables/Kiwi-CandleArtTemplate.pdf">template</a> here.

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Use markers or colored pencils to draw your design on the tissue paper. (Because tissue paper is really thin, cover your work space with regular printing paper so that your markers don't bleed through onto your work surface.) 

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Cut out your design as close to the edges as possible.

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Cut out a piece of wax paper that is large enough to wrap all the way around your candle.

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Place your drawn design on the candle. Wrap the wax paper around the candle tightly and tape it together. When you are all done, the tissue paper should be held tightly in place next to the candle with the wax paper on top of it.

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This step may require adult help! Use a hair dryer to heat up your design. Make sure to evenly heat the surface. After a while, you will see the design start to look wet and bright, which means that the tissue paper is fusing with the candle wax. Keep heating the design until it is completely adhered to the candle.

Once you are done heating the design, carefully remove the wax paper. The tissue paper design has fused to the candle. Your candle is ready for gifting!

wax paper

Tissue Paper

paper (regular print paper)

candle

hair dryer (or heat gun)

Scissors

Tape

Candle Art Transfer

family activities

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flowers

spring

Turn plain white flowers into a rainbow bouquet with just a little of science (and food coloring).

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Trim off the bottom of the stem. This will help the flower drink up the water.

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Carefully slice the stem down the middle. (Grownup assistance required.)

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Fill 2 cups with warm water and add food coloring. Pick your favorite colors and add lots! The water should look very dark.

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Place half of the stem into each cup. You may need to lean the flower against something so it doesn’t tip over.

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Wait for a day or so and watch the colors appear!

white flowers (roses or carnations work best)

food coloring

2 cups of water

knife or scissors

Rainbow Flowers

Mother’s Day crafts

heart

handmade cards

easy craft

quick craft

painting

The perfect Mother's Day gift, from them to her...easy footprint hearts.

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Start with a small amount of paint first, then add more as needed.  Using the foam brush paint your little one's foot, left foot first.  V was actually pretty great at painting her own feet (she's 3 years old), but I had to paint T's feet myself (he's almost 2).

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Holding their foot flat and having them spread out their toes, place their painted foot on the canvas.  Press down heel first, then toes in a rocking sort of motion.  Place the left foot first, then the right, connecting them at the heels to make a heart.

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Here's a view of the first foot, the left one, and then both feet together forming the heart.  Ideally this is what you are striving for, but don't fret if it's not perfect.  As you can see below, little T moved his foot a lot, creating a messier footprint.  But, that's the beauty of it, essentially showing each child's individuality -- my messy T & my very neat miss V.

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Optional:  We made these for each set of grandmothers for Mother's Day, and I didn't want them to have to worry about how to hang it.  So I hot glued a piece of jute rope (approximately 4" in length) to the back in a loop.  I then flattened it with a piece of ribbon to secure it further.

white canvas

foam brush

paint and paint brushes

permanent marker

hot glue gun (optional)

rope (optional)

ribbon (optional)

Mother's Day Footprint Hearts

craft

Father's Day

Valentine's Day

Make these hand-made cards to send to your friends! You can literally reach out and say hello!

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Fold the paper in half. Face the fold toward yourself. Uses pencil to trace your hand.

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Cut along the traced lines, leaving the fold at the bottom.

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Open the folded hand! Now you can decorate it!

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To add a heart, cut one out and attach it to a strip of folded construction paper.

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Glue the heart to the inside flap of the card. Decorate with heartfelt messages and send to your friends and family!

Construction Paper

pens

Glue

Markers

Hand-Made Hello Cards!

useful craft project

nature crafts

Mother's Day is just around the corner.  Here's a fun, inexpensive gift that will bring a smile to Mom's face and brighten her day, especially when she realizes that all those cute little flowers and bugs are made of her little one's thumbprints!  I just love a craft that helps you remember how little the kids really are.  They always become cherished keepsakes in our house!

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Gather all materials.  We also used a piece of large construction paper to protect our surface while painting and a paper plate to pour the paints onto.  

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The kids used their sponge brushes to paint their pots.  I tried to encourage them to use one color for the bottom and a separate color for the rim.  My 4 year-old was able to completely cover his pot all by himself, but my 3-year-old lost his attention and ended up coming back to it several times after breaks for play.

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After the pots dried, we used red, yellow, and purple paint to put thumbprints on our pots.  I helped my 3 and 4-year-old make thumbprints in yellow and purple for flowers and red thumbprints for ladybugs.  We also put 4 thumbprints together to make butterfly wings.

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Once all of the thumbprints had dried, we used paint pens to draw on the details of our flowers, ladybugs, and butterflies.  I also used the paint pen to write "Happy Mother's Day" with each child's name and the year along the rim.

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We let everything dry overnight, and then the next day we planted seeds in our pots.  I have found that Marigolds are very easy to grow and grow quickly.  We cut up coffee filters and put them in the bottom of our flower pots to keep the soil from leaking out of the hole in the bottom.

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The kids had so much fun getting their hands dirty as we scooped soil into our pots and used our fingers to make holes for the seeds.  They placed their seeds very carefully into the pots and covered them with dirt.  We talked about what seeds need, watered them and put them on a windowsill so they could get plenty of sunshine.

terra cotta pots

acrylic craft paint

sponge brush

permanent marker (various colors)

potting soil

seeds

Mother's Day Thumbprint Pots

Show Mom you care by making this easy and special card. Mom will love the fact that it is made from her little one's hands!

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Begin by folding a piece of construction paper in half so that the fold is to the right of you (rice cake optional:)).

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Next, have your kiddo lay his or her hand down so his or her thumb is touching the folded edge. 

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Now, trace your kiddo's hand with a black marker. It's okay if they move... Mom will love it even more. :)

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Now flip the paper over and do the same thing to the other side of the fold. 

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When you have traced both hands, find the part in the middle of where your kiddo's thumbs meet to make a point. That is going to be the bottom of the heart. Draw (or if your kiddo is older they can draw) the top part of the heart shape. 

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For the older ones, they can certainly cut this out themselves but I helped my three-year-old cut hers out. Next, have your child decorate it with some construction paper crayons. 

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Lastly, write (or have an older kiddo) write, "Mommy you have my heart". Present to Mom on Mother's Day and bring the tissues!

construction paper crayons

Mother's Day Hands and Heart Card

family activity

We love you because.... is the sentence I had my children finish about their Daddy. We wrote their answers on hearts that we hung all over the house for him to continue to find for days. What a sweet way to say "I love you" on Valentine's Day. Children are so honest, simple, sweet, and innocent... Asking them this question, I got some of the most heart melting and funny answers I ever could have possibly imagined. 


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First, draw as many hearts as you want to fill with sweet thoughts. We made about 25. I sat with my children and asked them, "Why do you love Daddy?" My daughter's was the sweetest: "Because he loves me." 

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After your hearts are filled, you can cut them out. While I did this, the kids starting ripping pieces of masking tape to hang the hearts with. Masking tape is so great for kids. It's easy to tear and easy to remove. I love that!

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They really enjoyed hanging the hearts all over the house. They got so creative on spots, like the blender where Daddy makes smoothies each morning or his gym bag where he wouldn't find the heart until he arrived to the gym.

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They even found a spot that they thought was just perfect!

25 at-home mothers day projects for kids

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