I have the students paint wooden hearts that I buy at the craft store a solid color and then have them write #1 Mom on them. I put a pin back on it and pin it inside a simple card that I have them make. Very simple, but the mommies love them. I have also done this with shrinky dink type paper before.
Last year we made a Mother's Day cookbook. They each wrote a recipe of a food their mother makes with transitional words. They turned out so cute! I'm totally going to do that again this year! For K you could interview the kids, type it up, and have them illustrate.
We make Mother's Day bath salts. I believe the recipe is: 3 cups epsom salts, 1 TBSP Glycerin, a few drops of food coloring, and a few sprays of perfume (I use body spray). Mix together in a big bowl. We then put the salts into babyfood jars and add a cute little poem (that I don't have right now). 3 batches will make enough for 20 kids and will leave your room smelling really nice!
I am not doing any mother's day gifts this year. I have 4 students that do not have a mom or don't see her. So I guess I will stay away from it this year!
Last year I was lazy and just combined the grasshead people (from our plant unit) with a Mother's Day gift. The students decorated small terra cotta pots with googly eyes and pompon noses and other features drawn with Sharpies. They planted grass seeds and stuck in a little sign on a toothpick that said "I love you with every hair on my head." Miss Kirby, did you make copies of the cookbook for everyone or did each child just bring home their own recipe?
Emma35, Your avatar freaks me out everytime I see it. I think there is a bug crawling on my screen! I don't know what I'm doing for mother's day yet. I hadn't really thought about it, but I suppose I should. Maybe we'll make tissue paper flowers and decorate an orange juice can to put them in. I remember doing that when I was little and thought it was a lot of fun.
I have several ideas for cute mother's day activities on my website as well as book and song recommendations. I almost always do the flower pot activity w/kids pics, scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the pic.
If you go to littlegiraffes.com, you'll see the idea on her Mother's Day theme page. We made recipe books. I copied all of the student's writing in one book along with a cover and some other pages too.
Okay, need some advice. All the other K teachers are having their kiddos paint a flower pot and include seeds in it. I originally planned on making bath salts and have everything for it. Any suggestions on how to combine the 2 into 1 present? I also asked the kids for the recipes of their mom's favorite dish. So I could make the "cookbook", have them paint the pots, add herb seeds, but how to include the bath salts????? Any suggestions?????????????? Thanks in advance.
Dr. Jean has a really cute Kids' Cafe Cookbook (May '08 downloads) that I am using. I will include a note from each child that will say something like Dear Mom, Let's cook up some memories! I also take their picture at the first of the year and use this as a gift. I hot glue large colored craft sticks to make a picture frame and write Cute As A Button on the bottom craft stick. Then the kids glue buttons on the other sides of the frame.
we used plaster of paris and made handprints. we wrote the name of the child and year. we had baskets donated to us and we are putting the handprints and cards in the baskets.
Liquid starch flowers Cut pretty fabric into squares, pour some liquid starch into styrofoam egg cartons, place one square into each cup of the liquid and let it dry for a couple of days so it gets stiff. Attach pipe cleaner stems, add silk leaves on the stems if you want, and make a bouquet, wrap in pretty paper and attach a card to mom.
pictures no, sorry, I wish I did. You could probably wet the squares in the starch before placing them in the egg carton sections. They dry in a tulip shape that way(thus the egg cartons!) We made a whole bulletin board of them in a flower box and are they ever spring-like and pretty.
I buy full aprons from a local discount store, have the children write what they love about their mothers, and then illustrate--all this is done with fabric markers...the moms love it!!!
I'm having mother's come in on Wednesday morning. They are going to have breakfast with the kids than make crafts. What crafts I dont' know yet haha.
Flower pots- I've also painted the child's hands, then have them wrap their hands around the pot. Then plant seeds or add a pkg. of seeds or what I like to do is place a small peice of styro in the bottom of the pot, attach Hershey's hugs & kisses to florist sticks (add paper leaves) & stick them in the styro along with crumpled tissue paper or florist moss. Add a child made card. The last few years I've been able to purchase the handprint kits from the ABC catalog.
We are always doing a unit of paper at Mother's day so I make stationary with the kids... take 5 pieces of paper for each child and cut in half. I also give them 10 envelopes. Then we make bubble solution with food coloring and put that in bowls. Each child has a straw and blows INTO the bowl to make the bubbles rise over the edge of the bowl. Then they put their paper on the bubbles which leave these faint colored marks. We do that with each piece of paper and the envelopes. Let it all dry, wrap with a ribbon and walla - stationary. We also write a card of what makes our Mom's so special.
What a great idea teach-kids!!! I think I am going to do this too! I might get them to put a stamp on the bottom corner ofthe page... How exactly did you make your bubble solution? Do you do both sides of the stationary and the envelopes?
I have the kiddos paint a flower pot with acrylic paint and I hot glue pretty ribbon around the top. I have them use the eraser end of pencils to paint polka dots on the pot. I have them help me make flower pens (just a basic pen and a stem of a fake flower wrapped with floral tape). I put three flower pens in each pot. Something for mom's desk, etc. Hopefully they will be used! For the card, we make a tulip flower handprint, a cute poem, and the child's picture. I took pictures outside on the playground this year and they turned out very bright and cute!
I know Mothers day is over but I work with 3yrs old at church and we/(my sis works with me) bought canvas bags @ walmart (5 dollars for ever 3 bags) cute bluejean,hot pink and lime green were our colors we then ahead of time put cute iron on things on them and then the week before mothers day (to let em dry) we wrote for them happy mothers day with fabric paint and then we let the kids w/ help put there hand print on the bags. (again using fabric paint) the kids then gave the bags to the mommy for mothers day. The mom's loved there homemade tote bags.
proud to be a teacher: you can use liquid soap and paint to make it . I have make it for 3yr olds and works well.
