Saturday 9 May 2015

Handprint Sciency Craft for Mother's Day

April showers may bring May flowers, but so does Mother's Day! A beautiful bouquet is nice, but if you want to give the gift that keeps on giving, you should really consider planting some seeds to the pretty lady that helped you grow! Now you may say "That's all well and great, but a pile of dirt with some sleeping seeds in it doesn't necessarily look like much." That's why we've come up with this beautiful way to present the pot in which it grows.  This will give it that special touch, especially if there are kids involved.

Lets face it, kids grow like weeds.  It's nice for a mother or grandmother to have something to look back on to see just how much her children or even grand children have grown. This particular craft and gift idea uses both handprints and footprints to capture the perfect flower before your planted seeds even bloom!

What you will need:

- A large ceramic plant pot (it has to be unglazed or the paint won't stick)
- Tempera/acrylic paint (green + another colour for the petals of the flower)
- Paintbrush (either one for each colour of paint, or also have water and a paper towel handy for             cleaning brushes between colours)
- Seeds or bulbs that will bloom into your mother's favourite colour of flowers or maybe even herbs
- Potting soil
- Clean hands and feet

1) Start by painting a straight green line to be the stem of your flower.
2) Paint the child's feet green to match the stem
3) Press children's feet onto the pot, in a V shape (heels together) to make the leaves of the flower.
    (I have found this task is easiest done in the bathroom.  Have the child sit on the closed toilet lid,         suspending their painted feet.  Then lift the pot up to meet their V shaped feet.  This way you have     the most control over where the feet land on the pot, and you can use your free hand to help press       the foot down to get the best print.
4) Then paint their hands and press them to the top of the stem as the upturned petals of the tulip.


For my pots, since I was using both of my children's prints, I added their name and current age to the bottom of the pot, for grandma's future reference.

As a final touch, I got a little creative and wrote grandma a handprint poem, which I painted on the empty space of the pot.


Feel free to use the poem for any of your home-made crafts for family members.  If you plan on using it for later sale though, please be aware that it is my original copyrighted work, and I ask that you contact me first for permission to use my poetry in this way.

Have a wonderful time making this mother's day gift, and please stop by my website: www.booksofafeather.weebly.com

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