ABC and 123: A Learning Collaborative: Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

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Yikes!  Nothing like last minute...
If you are still looking for a cute Mother's Day idea here are a few links to spark your creativity.

Makes and Takes has a great post of Mom's Day craft ideas.

Teaching Tiny Tots explains how to make a Mother's Day coupon book and grocery pouch.

Arts Crafts blog has a lengthy list of Mother's Day gift ideas.  I think there is still time to put together a twig frame for Gram or a Bloomin' Doorstop for Mom.

I love Mama King's repurposed cardboard Mom sign.

Use some special ribbon scraps and favorite buttons to put together a bookmark for mom.

Michelle from The Nature of Grace has taken the time to submit a wonderfully detailed explanation of an adorable "hands on" piece of spring art!

Learning Objective:
 This is a hands-on activity which reviews/builds on knowledge regarding some of the signs of Spring - growth of plants, flowers, and the appearance of more insects! The handprints addition of "grass" and a thumbprint ladybug add to the fun and memory of the project. The border around the edges could easily be made of foam or noodles or beans, etc. (whatever you have around the house which would fit the purpose) and could be done in a pattern fashion so as to encourage a review/lesson on patterns. Please note that ours is NOT a pattern. And the plus side to all of this - if you complete it on a nice piece of paper or a blank canvas (such as the one I used), you then have a cute keepsake of your child's handprints which you can hang up to admire.



Materials: paint (non-toxic), paintbrushes, nice paper or canvas, black marker for details on ladybug, something to use for the flower itself - we used coffee filters painted with watercolors, and colorful buttons (or yarn, noodles, foam shapes, or a different item which you could use to create a border around the picture).

Tutorial:

1. Allow your child to paint a stem and some leaves (good time to review the parts of a plant).
2. Paint your child's hands and place near the base of the stem.
3. While this is drying, cut out a coffee filter in the shape of a flower (more if you want a layered look) and let your child paint it with watercolors.
4. Let this dry and go back to your painting. Add a thumbprint ladybug (let it dry) and let your child add features to the red print to make it look like a ladybug.
5. Glue coffee filter flowers to the top of your stem and add brightly colored buttons to the middle to simulate "seeds" inside the flower. You could also use real seeds if you have them - or perhaps even colorfully paint some beans for this purpose!
6. Decide on a pattern (or not) and glue buttons, beans, seeds, noodles, etc. around the edges of the paper or canvas to create a fun border!
7. Let everything dry and then hang it on display somewhere in your house!

Happy Mother's Day!

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