*First posted on FathersofMultiples.com
Mother’s Day is just that: a day of celebration for Mom. It’s time to make something thoughtful that she’ll love. Heck, it may even make her tear up to get a thoughtful, sweet surprise from her babies. More than any other day, homemade kids crafts will mean so much to her. Footprint and handprint artwork will become beloved keepsakes. (Plus, with Father’s Day right around the corner, you’ll get bonus points towards your day if you help your children make things the wife will cherish.)
Here are 10 Easy-to-Make Mother’s Day Crafts that any Mom will love!
A MOM/WOW Card
Fold a piece of construction paper in half and cut out the word “MOM”. Turn your “MOM” card upside down, and you’ll see that it says “WOW”. And, when you unfold the paper, you’ll see that it says, “MOM WOW” or “WOW MOM”. Next, decorate the letters with flowers, hearts, patterns and stripes, or whatever grabs you.
I Heart You Card
Fold a piece of construction paper. Trace the hand of one of your kids with the thumb and forefinger placed all the way at the edge of the fold of your paper. Cut out the hand shape. Unfold your hands to reveal a heart shape where the thumbs and forefingers meet. Next, on the left side of your heart, write “I” and then add “YOU” or “U” to the right side…and you have “I heart you” as the message.
Photo Bookmarks
This is a craft, sure…but it also doubles as a small gift for any reader in your family. IF the wife/mom is a reader? Then it’s perfect for Mother’s Day. The craft idea was gotten from here.
First, you take pictures of your children looking like they’re hanging from the edge of a cliff or dangling from a rope. I got a front and a back image that sort of matched so that on one side of the bookmarked page, you’d see the kid’s face. On the back of the page, you’d see his back. Print your pictures off. I printed mine as 3.5 X 5 in. Use a hobby knife (or other cutting utensil of your choice) to cut your child out precisely. Laminate the pictures. You can use self-laminating sheets which can be gotten at any office supply store or big box store. Cut those out. If you’re doing “cliff hanging” pictures, just put the 2 pics together with clear tape at the top. If you’re doing “rope dangling” pictures, connect the two pics together with a short piece of yarn and tape the yarn ends to each pic so that it looks like the kids are holding the ropes.
Heart Flower
This craft creates a cool 3D effect. When you open the heart, the petals of the flower fan out. To make it, cut a pink or red heart out of construction paper, then cut a 2nd heart slightly smaller than the first in a different color paper. Glue the 2nd heart to the first and fold the 2 in half. Next, add the “stem” of the flower in the crease along with leaves for the stem. Finally, cut out a flat, 2 dimensional flower in multiple colors. Glue them in place, center on the crease of the hearts at the top of the stem, one on top of the other. Fold the WHOLE thing in half again. When you open the card, you should see the separate, differently colored petals stand up.
3D Photo
Frame this cool 3D trick when done and you have another craft PLUS gift.
Take a picture of your kid with their arm outstretch with a fist. Print the picture and put a small hole in the fist, big enough for a straw to stick through. When I first saw crafts like this on the Internet, they all had paper flowers attached to the top of the straw to create their 3D flower. But, I decided to forego the paper flower and cut a real one to insert in the straw end. This way, the straw acts as a 1-flower vase and can be changed out from time to time. The 3D effect works well either way you choose, fake or real flower.
I Love You This Much
Kids love to say “I love you THISSSSS much” as they stretch their arms out wide, with the distance between their hands showing just how much. And, of course, we love it when they do that too. Well, that’s exactly what this card does! Fold a piece of construction paper, trace a kid hand and cut out the tracing in the folded paper, creating two construction paper hands. Next, cut out a strip of construction paper in a different color. Write out, in big letters, “THIS MUCH”. Fold the strip at each letter, alternating the fold to create and accordion style fold. Attach each end to one of the hands. On the front hand, write “I Love You.” So, when mom sees her card, it says “I love you.” When she opens it, the two hands stretch out wide, and the card says “THIS MUCH!”
You've Got Mail
This makes for a cool craft and an ongoing family activity. First, you need an old mailbox…or fashion one out of cardboard or other type of material. Decorate the mailbox however you choose. My boys painted their mailbox white and added birds and flowers to it.
Once they give the mailbox to mom, they and mom can then send letters back and forth to each other from that point on. Each time someone puts something in the mailbox, put up the flag so others know to check for new mail!
Mom is the Cherry on Top
This is a Mother’s Day craft with a message. Your kids will like cutting out and pasting together an ice cream cone and coming up with words that describe their “Mom” or “Mama”. But Mom or Mama will cherish reading the words her kids came up with to describe her!
The message is “I love you with a cherry on top.” Then each word the kids come up with get glued to the ice cream. And, finally, put “Mom” or “Mama” or whatever the kids call her into the cherry.
Mom, You Rock!
This is perhaps the trickiest craft in this list. Why? Because you have to find a rock with an interesting or meaningful enough shape to use. Luckily, my boys found a rock in the rough shape of a heart. So they painted “Mama” on it and added decorations. Use bright colors if you want them to show up!
Also, depending on your child's age and maturity, the message could either be "You Rock" or "You Are My Rock".
Mother's Day Flower
Get 3 cupcake sleeves and color them with 3 different bright colors. Cut the 2nd to be slightly smaller than the 1st, and the 3rd to be smaller than the 2nd. Stack them 1-2-3. Put your stack on a piece of construction paper with a green stem/leaves below them. Finally, add buttons to the center of your cupcake sleeve flower as the "seeds".
Give these crafts a try and let us know how they went. More importantly, let us know if they made Mom happy!
