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.

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Fab Father's Day Crafts

I can't believe that another Father's Day has rolled around again! This year is just going way too fast. Before I know it I'll have a two year old and Miss M will be at school - eek! 

Anyway - just like last year, I've decided to bring you all some simple and sweet Father's Day craft and gift ideas. So if you haven't already planned anything - check these out!

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14 Things to Make and do with Salt Dough

Move over play dough - salt dough is our new favourite sensory play + craft material! Play dough has probably been the activity Miss M spent the most time doing in 2016 - but the thing she loves with salt dough is that she gets to keep and preserve her creations.

So it's the week leading up to Christmas and it's a great time to make some Christmassy bits and pieces using salt dough, either as a gift for family members or just for the fun of it!

I brainstormed (and then browsed Pinterest) for as many different things to make with salt dough and we tried to make as many of them as possible!

This is pretty much a fool proof recipe - just don't make any plans to leave the house because they take about 3 hours to bake and dry out in the oven (very low temp - around 120).

• 1 cup plain flour
• half a cup of salt
• half a cup of warm water

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Last Minute Father's Day IDEAS!

Dad's special day is coming up this weekend so it's time for us mums to get our creative on and make some stuff with the kids. In my house we got busy with salt dough, handprints, footprints and dotty pictures!

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SUPER Simple Mother's Day Craft {Dads I'm talking to you}

Ok Dad's, this one's for YOU. James I hope you're reading this ;)

Mother's day is coming up - just a gentle reminder. It's May 8th, the second Sunday of May. Don't worry, you still have plenty to time to whip something up to give the mother of your children. And I've come up with the simplest list you'll find on the net. Us mums love handmade stuff from the kids, but they usually need a little bit of adult help, and FYI we shouldn't have to make our own gifts!!

Scribble or Messy Paint Hearts

Let the kids go crazy and scribble on some paper, or if you're feeling ambitious and don't mind the clean up, get the paints out. When they're done cut it out into a love heart shape. Fold in half and there you have a Mother's Day card.

If you don't mind some extra cutting, cut out the letters of 'Mum' and glue on another sheet of paper or card. Save some of the scribbles or paintings to use as wrapping paper later.

If you buy a card from the shop (hint: we love special messages inside about how wonderful we are) let the kids decorate the card and envelope with more drawings. If we have young kids who can't draw yet - we love their scribbles!

Colouring In

This one's pretty simple too. Print out any of these colouring in pages, and let the kids go to town. 

Go here or here

Hint: Laminating kids colourings/drawings makes them an instant gift!

Handprints and Footprints

If you think you can handle it - try painting your little one's feet or hands. This one's great if they can't hold a pencil yet and can't make much else! Tip: feet are easier, babies hold their hands in tight little fists until they're about 6 months old. Mum will melt! We love this stuff.

Stickers

3 year olds and up can probably manage stickers on their own. Buy some hearts, flowers or butterflies and let them decorate a piece of paper or card. Done.

Stuff in a Jar

Jars are all the trend right now. Take the kids shopping and choose mums favourite lollies, chocolates, tea bags, coffee sachets or Nespresso pods (whatever mum loves), let the kids pop it into a jar and call it a gift. If you can be bothered tie a ribbon around it :)

Crockery

Grab a white coffee mug, bowl or plate and let the kids decorate them with coloured sharpies (keep this one for older kids - maybe 3 and up - but you'll have to watch them so they don't draw all over themselves!). Bake in the oven for 120 degrees for 2 hours and they'll be done! If you want extra brownie points, bake some cookies or brownies with the kids to add to this gift.

Photo Gifts

If Mum is a coffee lover and you like the mug idea, but want it even easier, check out Vistaprint. Mums LOVE photos of their kids. We can't get enough of them. Upload a photo of the kids on a mug, iPhone case, fridge magnet or mouse pad... Here are the shipping details to make sure mum gets it by mothers day. VERY IMPORTANT!

• Express - 3 business days
• Priority - 5 business days
• Standard - 10 business days

If all else fails, buy a photo frame from the shop to pop a photo of the kids in.

Last but not least - give us a sleep in!

Lauren :)

Linking with Jess

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Handmade Gift Ideas for Mother's Day

With Mother's Day less than a week away, I thought I should put together a collection of photos from past posts to give you some handmade gift ideas (Dad's I'm talking to you as well - mums you should share this post or strategically leave it open on your computer for him to find). James is the least arty person I know, but I think even he could give some of these a go. And it's always nice for Nanna's and Grandma's to receive a little something special for Mother's Day too. 

Funny story - we were writing on Miss M's Nanna's card and I asked her what it should say... She replied "To Nanna, Happy Nanna's Day!". So sweet!

Foot print butterfly

Footprint Flower

Salt dough hand or foot print

Salt dough recipe: 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup salt, half cup water, low heat 75 degrees C for approx 3 hours until dried out

Hand print on canvas

Photo Coffee Cup

I got this one from Vistaprint at Christmas time, and I just had a look on their website and it seems like they don't make them any more - but luckily Office Works does! :)

Scribble Hearts

"Mum" Lettering Painting 

(or you could do this in reverse by marking out the letters of Mum with masking tape, painting all around it and removing the tape when dry). Also, it doesn't have to be painting, just use the same idea from the scribble hearts above, and cut out the letters.

I have another little project in the works, but I'll share that after Mother's Day so as not to spoil the surprise :)

Hope your week's going well. So far so good with blog every day in May!

Lauren

Linking up with Jess for #IBOT

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Christmas Gifts for Little Ones to Make

I think it's so nice having something special for little people to give their loved ones at Christmas time. Everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit at the moment - so I figured I should too!

I had originally planned to publish this post on the first of December, but obviously that didn't happen. So it's a bit last minute, but I hope some of my readers may still find these ideas useful and helpful!

You may have seen this one on the blog before. We made these salt dough footprints last year. An upside down footprint, carefully decorated can be made to look like a Christmas tree. (Click here for the recipe). You could also simply make a hole, add ribbon and hang on the Christmas tree. Another simple idea is to simply make a footprint in the Christmas cards you are sending.

To match last years footprint, I wanted to do a handprint this year. These mini canvas' were the perfect size for little hands. They looked a bit ordinary at first, but with a little red love heart and gold glitter I think they turned out really well! (Tip - have lots of practise tries before you do them on canvas, our got better the more we tried). On the back I included this little poem :)

Little Miss had so much fun doing handprints that we did a few extra pictures. She even tried to paint her own hand with the brush - so cute!

Something special I've made for my Mother-in-Law this year, is a Vistaprint photo mug with both of her grandchildren on it. Was so easy to do, and you can add text or even wrap the photo around the mug. Filled with Nespresso coffee pods, tea bags and choccies I think she'll love it! (Hope she's not reading this lol). I made one for my Father-in Law too last father's day and hubby made one for me for mother's day.

Finally, this isn't a gift (or something your toddler could make but maybe a school age child could help you) but I wanted to include it all the same. Do you keep your old Christmas cards from year to year? I kept last year's with this idea in mind - DIY Christmas Bunting! I suggest you make a template triangle shape first so that all of your flags will be roughly the same size.

I'm hoping to have a few more Christmas ideas on the blog over the next few days. I've been loving my first week of school holidays, and now that hubby is on leave as well things are falling into place.

Lauren

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Zip Lock Bag Painting | 7 Ways

I'm not here today! Well I'm here but not here.

I'm guest blogging over at my very dear friend Sarah Tamblyn Designs. If you've followed my blog for a while, you would recognise some of her 'fun prints for little people' that I have featured here, here and here.

We decided to team up and guest blog for each other! Her blog is all about arty/crafty ideas (I love the posts she does showing how her prints are made)... So I came up with 7 ways for little ones to enjoy zip lock bag painting.

Please click on the link below to be taken to the full article over on Sarah's blog.

http://www.sarahtamblyndesigns.com/blog-art-and-craft-ideas-for-kids/

And while you're there browse some of her gorgeous prints!

Lauren :)

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Drawing, Painting & Collage | Baby & Toddler Art

In one of my previous posts back in April I gave examples of some lovely art activities you can do with your baby's footprint. Today I want to expand on this and share some ideas for babies who have graduated to toddler hood and are beginning to be able to hold pencils, crayons, paint brushes and chalk.

So to kick things off - I let Miss One go crazy scribbling on some white paper with some pencils - and surprisingly she did quite well. It was a great opportunity to teach and talk about the colours. I then traced some love hearts using a cookie cutter and cut them out. These were perfect additions for relatives birthday cards! I've also put a couple in her baby book. Such a simple idea that turns scribbles into something more special.

I LOVE these egg chalks that were given as a gift for my little one's first birthday. They are easy to hold and lots of fun! Blackboards are making a comeback these days - and there are many things you can cover with blackboard paint. We are planning to mount one on our back fence for fun outside drawing when the weather improves.

Did you collect these Jamie Oliver stickers from Woolies over the past few months? I've been amazed at how my little one was kept occupied for ages (with my assistance) to stick them all over a numerous pieces of paper. Our next step will be to try sticker books.

image source - eBay

A final little idea - are you a sentimental keeper of things like me? I kept all of the baby shower cards, arrival cards and first birthday cards we've been given by family and friends. It's lovely to treasure some special ones with thoughtful messages inside, but if you'd like to use them for an art project...try this! I simply traced and cut some circles and glued them onto a canvas. I'm still deciding if we'll display it or not. We don't have that many free walls in the nursery :)

You could get your older toddler involved in this activity as well. Ask them to select the pictures they want from their (and your) past birthday cards, let them tell you the shapes to trace and cut. Then depending on how fussy you are with the finished product - let them do the gluing or give them a little more guidance if needed.

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My friend Sarah over at Sarah Tamblyn Designs is always posting lovely art and craft ideas on her blog. Her original and unique designs are inspired by the painted collage method. Pop in and have a look. Her latest was written by a guest blogger all about Art Therapy. A really interesting read.

When your children are a bit older and bring painting after painting home from kindy, I've found these two cute ideas of how to put those paintings to good use and make something new!

• Children's Artwork Collage
• DIY Kids Artwork Bunting

I really do love teaching Art at school. Last term the children and I enjoyed crayon resist water colour paintings, colour mixing and paper plate fish with button scales. It's great now to be able to do a few little art projects with Miss One. Here's a simple yet timeless quote to finish today's post...

image credit

Sooooo....teacher types has been getting a few more page views lately thanks to my birth club group on FB and the articles I've been writing for AMM have directed a bit more traffic my way. So to my regular readers - just a quick thank you! Please leave a comment if you have an idea to share or you've read something you liked - I'd love to hear from you.

Lauren
- the teacher who types

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Tiny footprints, handprints & fingerprints | Baby & Toddler Art

With Mother's Day coming up I thought this was the perfect time to publish this post (which has been sitting in my drafts folder for ages!)

Have you ever wondered what type of art project you can do with your baby or toddler if they are too young to hold a brush or will just put paint in their mouth if they attempt finger painting? You are in the right place! There's something so special about a tiny footprint being preserved in paint or dough and kept forever! These ideas make lovely gifts for grandparents too.

1. Footprint Butterfly

2. Footprint Tractor (I did this one as a Father's Day card)

3. Footprint Salt Dough (salt dough recipe = 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup salt and half a cup of water, low heat 75 degrees celsius for approx 3 hours until dried out). I painted mine like Christmas trees and gave them to family and friends for Christmas gifts, however you could leave them plain.

4. Footprint Flower (I made this special one for my mother in law's recent birthday)

Or simply place a hand or footprint in a card! I found footprints much easier. When my little miss was really young, she kept her hands in little tight balls, and when she got older, she tried to grab hold of everything when we attempted to do handprints in Christmas cards!

Here are some other finger print ideas I've stumbled upon around the web. These may be suitable for older children.

5. Fingerprint christmas fairy lights

6. Fingerprint flowers

7. Fingerprint birds

8. Fingerprint Hungry Caterpillar

9. Fingerprint "I Love You" Book

A whole class handprint mural would be a lovely idea for a pre-school or school art activity, particularly at the start of a year or term.

Finally if you're feeling brave and don't mind the mess, here's a link to Scented homemade edible finger paints to try with your little one.

Happy painting and printing and don't forget Mother's Day is only a few weeks away!
Lauren

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