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How-to: 5 easy Mother's Day crafts for kids to make

These 5 crafty ideas are perfect for kids to make for mom's special day.
/ Source: TODAY Contributor

We all appreciate the life lessons Mom has taught us. And Sunday is the day to give thanks. Here to make it a little easier is TODAY Parenting Team contributor Jodi Levine, with easy crafts kids can do to show their love to Mom. And for more life lessons from Mom, check out our TODAY Parenting Team community!

Mother’s Day may conjure visions of Mom enjoying a fancy meal out, or smelling a vase full of roses or relaxing while getting a manicure. But what if none of these thoughtful gifts have been planned/made/scheduled?

Dads, get the kids involved in these 5 crafty ideas—from Jodi Levine, blogger and author of Candy Aisle Crafts—and you just might salvage mom’s special day.

1. STICKY NOTE GARLAND AND WALL HEART

Use sticky notes to tell mom how much you love her!

Materials:

  • sticky notes or paper and tape
  • scissors (optional, to make pennant shape for a garland)
  • string (optional, for a garland

How to:

  1. Get your kids to write sweet messages about why they love mom, what they are thankful to her for, or sweet adjectives to describe mom. (Optional: cut notes into a triangular pennant shape for a garland before writing on them.)
  2. Stick the notes to a wall randomly or in a heart-shape or adhere notes to string to make garland.
Amy Gropp Forbes / Candy Aisle Crafts/Jodi Levine

2. MINI COOKIE CAKES/TEA PARTY

Kid-made mini cookie cakes using store-bought cookies are a fun activity and treat for a mom-kid tea party.

Materials:

  • Simple cookies that aren't too bumpy and textural (such as vanilla or chocolate wafers)
  • Frosting in a piping bag or store-bought icing tubes
  • Assorted sprinkles and candies for decorating

How to:

  1. Select 3 or 4 cookies.
  2. Pipe frosting onto all the cookies except one
  3. Stack them with layers of frosting in between.
  4. Decorate “cake” top with frosting and edible decorations (candy and/or sprinkles)

3. INEXPENSIVE PHOTO GIFTS AND WRAP

There is nothing a parent loves more than a gift featuring their child’s photo. This idea is perfect for a last-minute gift when it’s too late to order a professionally printed photo gift.

Materials:

  • photos
  • for book: blank books or inexpensive composition notebooks, spray adhesive or glue and a paintbrush, scissors or a craft knife
  • for storage box: shoebox
  • for gift wrap: gifts to wrap, tape and scissors

How to:

  1. Select a few favorite kids' pictures where the kids are centered in the frame (this will give you space to wrap the picture around the item you are covering). At a copy shop have 11” x 17” black and white photos printed.
  2. Photo books: use spray adhesive or brush a thin very layer of glue over the part of the book that you’d like to cover and smooth the printout over it, going around the spine if you’d like. Trim the excess paper around either right up to the edge or leave a ¼” or so to fold over the edge. If you leave excess paper brush some glue onto the edge of the inside cover and smooth the excess paper over from the cover onto the inside cover.
  3. Gift wrap: use printouts to wrap a gift or just cover the top of a gift box.
Amy Gropp Forbes / Jodi Levine/ Candy Aisle Crafts

4. FLOWER LOLLIPOP BOUQUET

Give mom a sweet flower lollipop bouquet that won’t wilt!

Materials:

  • hard candies such as Jolly Ranchers
  • baking sheet covered
  • unbleached parchment
  • wooden skewers (with pointy tips cut off) or lollipop sticks
Amy Gropp Forbes / Jodi Levine/ Candy Aisle Crafts

How to:

  1. Preheat the oven to 275°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Choose some of candies for petals and for leaves. Cut them smaller, if desired, to vary the sizes of your petals and leaves. Use kitchen shears and cut the candies over a sink or garbage bag to catch any candy "shrapnel".
  3. Arrange candies onto the baking sheet for the flower center and petals. Place in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Remove and let cool for 1 minute. Reshape to separate petals if desired. Add the stick by putting it on the bottom and twisting to coat with candy. Place 2 green candy half "leaves" (or any color of your choosing) on either side of the stick, slightly overlapping the stick.
  4. Return to the oven for about 2 more minutes to melt and smooth. Remove from the oven and let cool.

5. BREAKFAST IN BED WITH PLACE MAT AND PAPER ROSE NAPKIN

An extra special breakfast in bed with a kid-decorated breakfast tray and kid-made food!

Materials:

  • placemat: child’s drawing (laminated at a copy shop or at home with clear contact paper)
  • napkin rose: paper or cloth napkin and green piece of construction paper
  • breakfast: yogurt, granols, and fruit (grapefruit half, berries, apple slices, honeydew)
Amy Gropp Forbes / Jodi Levine/ Candy Aisle Crafts

How to:

Rose folded paper napkins.

  1. Cut a leaf out of construction paper and fold in half.
  2. Fold 2 paper napkins in half and overlap them to make one long folded napkin.
  3. Roll into a coil.
  4. Fold down a triangle to create a petal at the end of the coil.
  5. Place in glass with a paper leaf.
Amy Gropp Forbes / Jodi Levine/ Candy Aisle Crafts

Breakfast parfait:

  1. layer fruit and granola in a glass or small jar

Fruit face and flowers:

  1. Fruit face: help your child cut up fruit: slice a grapefruit in half and cut a slice off the bottom so it will sit flat on a plate. Add facial features with berries and apple slice.
  2. Fruit flowers: Cut thin sticks of honeydew for the flower stems. Arrange berries and honeydew sticks to make flowers

For TODAY's complete Mother's Day Guide, click here!

Jodi Levine is a member of the TODAY Parenting Team. Check out her post here.