Mother's Day Art, Craft & Gift Ideas

Well we are half way through the school holidays here in SA which only leaves a few weeks to get the Mother's Day gifts sorted! How quickly is this year going???

I've found some super cute ideas during my Pinterest scrolling that I really wanted to share with my teacher and early childhood educator followers. You might recall that last year my Year 2 students and I combined science with our Mother's Day gifts and created home made bath bombs. I also wanted to remind you of this post from the previous year - these ideas are super simple, perfect for dads to do with the kids at home.

Anyway, now for some new ideas! This first one is of course from Teach Starter which is always my first stop when looking for resources. This flower paper craft is so simple but so effective.

Mums always love something their little one has painted, and a painting on a canvas it makes it that bit more special. Often people are often looking for age appropriate painting ideas that they can do with very young children. So here's a few options for different ages;

• For babies, put a few blobs on paint on a canvas (ensure they are colours that will go well together and not turn to brown when mixed), cover the canvas with glad wrap and invite the baby to touch and squish the paint all over it. Remove the glad wrap and allow to dry.
• A great idea for toddlers is to put lines of painters tape to make patterns on the canvas and let the toddler either use their hands or a paint brush to fill in the white spaces. Again, once dry, remove the painters tape to reveal the masterpiece!
• Preschoolers & school aged children can generally paint whatever they like! A family portrait or self portrait would be lovely, as would a flower or garden scene. Recently I saw a gorgeous idea at the Little Picasso's Art Studio here in Adelaide - the canvas was completed painted in one block colour, and once dry, the portraits were done in white over the top. It was such a lovely effect (you can sort of see the examples in the background of this picture).

My teaching partner has organised these little trinket boxes from CleverPatch for our children to make which I think they'll love making (and the mums will love receiving!). Another cute product I found at CleverPatch are these porcelain heart dishes (they remind me of my love heart shaped wooden bowls). CleverPatch is pretty quick with shipping - obviously check their shipping page on the website for specific locations, but if you order now you should get it in time for the kids in your class to create their gifts. 

These pipe cleaner hearts by Fun a Day caught my eye a while ago (and thanks to Instagram's handy save feature I could find them again!). Pictured here children make their name with the beads but for Mother's Day they could do Mum, Nanna, or "I Love You" or simply just thread any colourful beads on that they like.

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There's something so adorable about buttons! We use them all the time as loose parts in the classroom, but they are always a fantastic craft material. How cute are these flower cards?

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Miss M and I loved this piece of art from Arty Crafty Kids so much that she wanted to try it herself (see below)! Inspired by Kandinsky (traditionally done as concentric circles) this love heart art would be perfect for Mother's Day, either on a canvas or framed. Miss M decided she wanted to do hers in a cirlce/heart pattern, and used watercolour paint (see below). If you follow the link below, you'll actually find a template you can print out to help create this art.

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(Is it wrong that I want to frame this and give it to myself for Mother's Day??)

Tea drinking mums will love this cute card! What a clever idea to use little egg cartons to create mini tea cups. They even have a real tea bag inside! (I'm sure that part of the present will entitle mum to have a hot cup of tea uninterrupted). I just love this one from In the Playroom. 

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Here's one last idea that I think is absolutely adorable. I imagine it would be quite an involved process with several steps; painting the blue sky background, photographing the children, cutting out the hearts and finally gluing it all together. But it certainly is heart melting. Mums, Nannas and Grandmas would love it!

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What have you got planned for Mother's Day this year? Let me know in the comments below. 

Lauren xx

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, this year I am once again supporting Witchery's White Shirt Campaign in the lead up to Mother's Day, as I lost my own mother to Ovarian Cancer. 100% of the money from the sales of the Witchery white shirts goes to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.