Toddler Activities for Mother's Day: Silhouette's

For Mother's Day this year, I wanted to spoil myself. I wanted to find a craft that would capture my little girls' ages and their sweet, ornery, colorful cuteness. I love silhouette's, so I decided to have my girls decorate their own silhouette to show off their little personalities.

Materials:
pics of your girls in the size of your choice
cardstock
scissors
markers or crayons
double-sided tape

Step One: Take profile pics of your kiddos, making sure to take each picture from the same distance (if you have more than one...) I printed them off in "draft gray scale" mode so I didn't use too much ink. I printed them in 8x10.

Step Two: Cut out their silhouette and tape it onto cardstock (I used white). Cut it out again in the cardstock and place it onto a scrap piece of paper for your toddler to decorate.


Step Three: This step totally depends on the age of your child. I did a small "interview" with my 3 1/2 year old, asking her (self-flattering) questions like, "What is your favorite thing about mommy? What is your favorite thing to do outside with mommy?" It was fun to hear her answers. Most of them involved a koala bear. She's obsessed with them today. (Which is fine because K is our letter of the week!)
After I wrote down some of the words she'd used to describe how she felt about me, I helped her write them on her silhouette. Then she drew some pictures until the entire thing was decorated. I had her use pencil just in case there was a major mishap that needed to be fixed.


Step Four: I wish I had kept her silhouette in pencil only, but I asked her to color it and she colored the entire thing pink, which I guess shows off a little more about her.
I'm happy with my little Hazel silhouette.


I didn't finish the others today, but with my two year old I was planning having her paint "dots" in her favorite colors since circles are her specialty (have you ever read The Dot?). And with the baby, I was going to dip her hands in paint and do hand prints all over. I'll post updates when they're done.

You can have them draw, write, paint, decorate with stickers or make a mosaic-like silhouette with colorful tissue paper. Let them use their imagination and you'll get to capture their personalities at this time in their lives.

Have fun and Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Activities for Preschoolers

Perhaps you've seen a homemade bouquet of paper flowers which make a nice gift. This time I tried making them out of fabric and after a bit of experimentation, we got it to work.

Materials:
fabric (2 or 3 that match per flower)
pipe cleaners
scissors
staplers



I cut my fabric to 6" by 8" or so. You can layer the widths for more depth.

Fold your fabric lengthwise in a fan-like pattern and tie with pipe cleaner in the center.





Pull your fabric apart to create your flower.
The fabric doesn't stay put as well as tissue paper, so I stapled the top and bottom
(you could use a needle and thread if you and your toddler have the patience!).


I tied on more pipe cleaners to the centers of the flowers to create a long stem.
You could also put a safety pin on the back and make a corsage.




Have fun!

hug in a card

This is a great idea for a Mother's Day card!

Materials:
construction paper
crayons or markers
stickers, glitter, or other decor
glue
scissors

(credit for this idea goes to the Treehouse Children's Museum)

More to come!