Mother's Day Homemade Gifts

I just did a Mother's Day project/gift with some students yesterday and today. I bought plain dish towels (I prewashed and ironed them) and had/helped the students put their hand print in one corner and then we stenciled/sponge painted a butterfly (another simple shape or even a stamp would work) in the opposite corner. I used Acrylic Paint, let them dry, then used permanent fine tip sharpies (fabric markers work, too) and had them write their name by the hand print and in the opposite corner I wrote Mother's Day 2008. The towel shifts when you try to write on it so it needs to be held tightly while writing.
Then I ironed them to heat set the paint. I put a heavy paper towel over the paint, just in case, so I won't get paint on my iron. To wrap the present the kids will color on a white paper lunch bag to make a "gift bag"
Have fun.
V. A

I have always loved the ones with handprints. the one was her hand cut out and attached to a green pipe cleaner that was stuck into a little ceramic clay pot with green form at the bottom. On the hand print was her picture of her face and on the back of the hand was a poem. The poem was about small hand get into.. but the hug you too.
Hand prints in cement forms in a shoe box and they add jems and beads and the box of things that you do'nt know what to do with.
A picture frame with puzzle pieces all over in with "I love you to pieces" on it. Picture in it.
Sorry got carried away!!

yesterday at my momtime group at church we made plates....very simple

supplies needed:
plain glass plates, platters, mugs(anything glass, the plainer the better)
elmers paint markers and/or enamel paints
brushes if buying enamel paints, not needed if only purchasing paint markers

should be able to find all supplies at the craft section of walmart, or you can check michaels/joann fabrics

directions:
first paint the plates on the underside..so any printing you want will have to be backwards...you can go to microsoft word and under print options, advance, change to mirror image on. then tape to the normal side of the plate and flip and trace.
Let it cure for 24 hours, then place in cold oven, turn on to 325 and bake for 30-40 minutes.

tips: if you want to overlap colors, let them dry a long long time. i tried writing the kids name and brithdate and then going over the entire plate with a color. I should have wrote name, cure and baked then painted the solid color. but for drawing, just color in the lines:)
also, what ever color goes down first is the color that you will see on the other side.
you can always print clip art mirror imaged instead of free handing unless you are a great artist....EVERYTHING MUST BE PAINTED BACKWARDS UNLESS IT DOESN'T MATTER SUCH AS A BUTTERFLY, HEART, FLOWER

goodluck and have lots of fun. i did 6 plates yesterday!

it is quick and easy, just takes awhile to dry!

One of my favorite gifts is one my daughter made in preschool - The following poem was attached to a piece of paper with her handprints on each side:
These Little Hands
These little hadns can give a hug
Pat-A-Cake or throw a ball
They put smudges on teh wall
Because I am only just so tall
They love to clap or hold your hand
Whenever you can play
But when I'm grown and far away
These little hands with you will stay.

Two years later I still have this hanging in my office at work and I love at it often and Love it!!

That is really sweet that you are working on something for the kids. They take great joy in knowing they made a gift for someone special!

I too, do daycare..one of our favorites was the year i bought inexpensive whisks and we filled them with candy kisses, tied a ribbon on and made a card to attach......I 'whisk' you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY....with kisses! mom's loved it!

This year we did fridge magnets....cut semi circles out of green and red posterboard...the red smaller to fit on the green to resemble watermelons. Then had the kids dip thier thumbs on an ink pad to make the seeds! put a pic on it in the center and then across the top I wrote: MOM, YOU'RE ONE IN A MELON!
Laminated them and put a magnet on the back! Very cute!
We made ours about 7 inches across on the green, so it is fairly big. (the older ones can cut out their own semi circles too, that's even cuter as it is not always 'perfect', but sure is adorable!
hope this helps...have fun!

Handprint flower bouquet

I just saw this one the other day. The kids have their hands traced on a few different colors of construction paper. After the hands are cut out, you wrap the fingers around pencils to give them a curly look. Then twist a yellow pipe cleaner around the end of a green pipe cleaner to form a stamen. Wrap the palm part of the hand around the pipe cleaner and glue or tape to hold on. Do a few in different colors and then they have a bouquet of hand print flowers. You can attach construction paper leaves too.

Another cute one is taking fake flowers and attaching the stem on to a pen by wrapping around it with floral tape. Then you have a flower pen.

FUNNY..as I read this...trolling the internet while my daycare children sleep...the dishwasher is running the lunch dishes...and I am waiting for the last layer of paint to dry on our MOM's day gifts!

Every few years I cycle the gifts thru as I do the children...so again this year, as I did about 5 years ago...we are doing flower pots.

I do their hand (or footprint for the little babies..its tough to do their hands with defined fingers!) on one side..then we do a bunch of fingerprints all over in red and yellow...let it dry. Then I add the details..older children can help. I write WATCH ME GROW over the hand/foot...then turn the yellow prints into bees (couple thin blck stripes, wings and a stinger...all black thin lines)...and the red ones becoem ladybugs (black dots and a line down the middle...) all simple to do...I am NOT artistic LOL...and they are very small dot prints from their little fingers.

I add a few simple painted flowers, some grass...maybe some color dots for decorative elements to fill it in...then later in the week we will put some dirt and flowers (pansys maybe??) and put a bow around it and give to Moms on Friday.

Most important of course...name and year on the bottom.
Past families...or families with older children who have gone off to school, but youngers are still here...tell me this has become a Moms day tradition....Mom and child plant something in it together...or the child does this for Moms gift each year...reuse it!

We have also done dish towels, wooden wall hangings,etc.....I usually do something with hand/footprints, the childs art/photo.....something to look back on and see how they were (size, artistic talent, etc) on that year for Mom......

T., I always loved the handprint done with paint. Usually accompanied with the poem (that I can't recall) about growing so fast and remembering when I was this small. Fun to make and great to keep. :-)
T.

i got a photo and frame from my provider.

the frame is a 5x7 double frame (from target I think. she had the kids paint - the kids she does is about that age as well (my son was not quite 2 when he did mine) on a peice of paper, then she put half of it in the left side just like that. On the right side, she put the other half and an 4x6 photo of my son in it. It's really cute.

I could probably send you a picture if you want to actually see it.

Hey T.,

This year my day care kids are making the same gift for mom's day and dad's day--a keychain. You can buy the acrylic photo key chains cheap on e-bay, and I intend to put their photo on one side, and a doodle made by the kids on the other. (even the toddlers' scribbles turn out cute. We've also made macaroni necklaces, bead bracelets, flower arrangements from egg cartons, aprons, table runners with hand prints, vases, photo frames, magnets, etc. Familyfun.com has a wealth of ideas.

Good luck, and remember the end product is cutest without a lot of adult 'help'

T.

Go to a junk/antique store and get a tea cup and plate for each child. Put some potting soil in the tea cup around a pansy plant. Pretty, practical and mom will love it.

I used to do in home day care as well. We have created handprints from plaster of paris using a coffee can lid. place a pretty ribbon in the lid before pouring in the plaster mix. When the plaster is dry, you can tie the ribbon in a bow at the top so mom will be able to hang it. Elmers and Crayola both make great products that are easy for little hands to use to add decorative touches. Good luck!!!

A.
Mom to Connor (12) & Drake (9)

I know this will sound a little messy but in the past I have gotten terracotta pots (large enough for hand prints), painted the little hands and put the childs' hand prints on the sides of the pot. Then with their help I put in a little dirt, some kind of flower, (usually a wave petunia), and with a permanent marker of the same color around the rim I write Happy Mother's Day the year then somewhere on the pot I also write, holding the child's hand, Love,....... Just to give it that little touch. Like I said it sounds a little messy but most kids live to play in dirt anyway...

my daughter has made a 'plant' before... have the children decorate a plastic cup (color with markers, foam cutouts, etc.) then plant some grass seed. You can also have them make a 'flower' out of a pipe cleaner and tissue paper. It's very cute and the grass starts growing within days so you see the results soon!

when i worked for the ymca and had school age kids, i had them make cards with their hands. i used posterboard sized paper, but with smaller hands, you could do smaller paper. we folded the paper in half to make a card and they wrote a message inside it first. then i had them paint one hand at a time and then put it on the paper, making a flower pattern (need about 5 or 6 hand prints). then they used green paint and their fingers to make the stem and leaves. the moms LOVED it!! you could also have them make a butterfly with the same concept. let me know if you need more explanation.
Good luck!!

A fun project that I have always loved doing with the kids is painting flowerpots. You can get ceramic flowerpots and paint pretty cheap at Michael's.

Another fun one is to get an apron and some paint from Michael's and make "handprint" aprons.

Have fun!
S.

i can think of 2 things that might help.....i know when i receive a picture of my children, from anyone (school, grammas, anything of the sort), while in a drawing, or maybe a handprint of theirs, i am overjoyed, and i put it on my refrigerator immediately!!! it is one of the easiest, funnest things for a small child to do, and as a mom, i know i love it more than anything!!!

as for the second thing, get some inexpensive candle holders, or some mugs, canning jars, etc., go to nelsons dime store, get some Candle Magic (wax crystals that can be put directly in a container, add a wick, and voila, instant candle)....maybe have the children decorate the container, put a ribbon on it, or something like that. Candle Magic is fairly inexpensive, and its a great project for little ones, because they can just pour the wax crystals, thats it!

hope this helps you with your question. =-D

Hi T.
I just got my Mothers Day gift from my son and with 3 little ones This is a gift that I a have not yet recived. The pre school teacher went and got carpet samples from the store.(Most places that sell carpet have old carpet sample books that they give away for free) So they are the perfect door mate size. She had the kids pant/stamp words and what ever else they wanted on them. My son is so proud of this and I love it.

Have you tried a plant, they love the dirt and to watch seeds grow, they can even paint the pot.

Clay,paint or beaded, shells,macaroni etc art.

The best gift I got was a shadow cut out from my one .

Also another son made me a lopeside clay pot I treasurer.

Or maybe have the Moms come over for art sandwiches and cakes.
The children can prepare peanut,jelly, salad spread type sandwiches and frost cakes.

A photo of this would be a great gift.

D.

I love the ideas on the Family Fun Mag website. I teach 3 year old kindergarden and I had my students make tissue paper flower pens and a handmade scrapbook looking card. Write me if you want directions.

At the library I take my kids to for story time the librarian helped the kids plant flowers in paper cups for their moms, and color mom coupons.

My son's preschool did a really cute craft. All of the classes did it, so they are about the same age. The teachers took a paper plate and cut a hole in the middle. The took a paper bowl, turned it upside down and attatched it to the plate. It made a hat. The kids decorated the hats with paint, fake flowers, charms pom poms, etc. They were all unique and at the end the teachers attatched a ribbon so we could wear them for moms night. It was cute and made the kids so proud!

Michaels has an isle of $.99 wooden treasure boxes. One year my daycare kids painted those for mom & inside we put a home-made bracelet in it. Very cheap & easy to do.
Not only do they have wooden treasure boxes but many things you can paint for only about $1. We've bought picture frames from there too. Good luck & have fun!

I am a mother of a beautiful 2 year old. Both my husband and I work full time so she goes to daycare and loves everything about it. They do lots of crafts and I love seeing what they have done. I have gotten alittle candle holder that had her hand print and the year on it, a fridge magnet that had her picture on it (it was some material that was shaped in a heart with her picture in the middle of it)and then they did a small flower pot and you could have them do happy mothers day or a foot print or name or something on that order. It had a flower in it!! Thats all of the idea's that I have for you but how fun is your house!!! Good luck and have fun.

i dont know if this is a bit late for you, but i just read your post and the thing that came to my mind is this: lately ive been seeing photos of moms using their thumbs and index fingers to make a heart. the thumbs point down to make the bottom of the heart while the index fingers make the rounded top halfs. i dont know if it would work, but you could try a variation of the old handprints by trying to get them to do that. course i dunno how age appropriate that is.. just a thought! goodluck!