Mother's Day Gift Idea and Free Printable

We wanted our preschool moms to feel like 

QUEENS

 this Mother's Day.

And what queen would be without some diamond jewelry?

Although we couldn't make real diamond bracelets, we could make DIME - ON bracelets.  Practically just as good!!  :)

 I definitely need to give credit for this idea to Jenn at Crayons and Cuties in Kindergarten.  She has a blog post HERE which explains her process and it also includes some fun ideas for a Mother's Day tea party. 
Make sure you check it out after reading this post!    

 I've documented how our class made dime-on jewelry with the photos below.  

Our process was a little different than Jenn's, plus we made dime-on bracelets instead of dime-on necklaces, as Jenn did with her class.   

The charms for the bracelets were made from this Polyform Air Dry Modeling Clay from Michael's.

Awesome stuff!  

And we barely even made a dent in the package after making 40 charms.  

We rolled out some clay on wax paper - enough for each child to cut out a charm.

The kids chose the shape they wanted for their charm from our selection of small dough cutters.

They pressed a cutter into the dough to get their charm shape.

Then they pressed a dime in the center of their charm to make an imprint. 

 (Note: The dime will be glued on later after painting.)

The teachers marked a spot on the charm and helped the kids poke a hole on the edge of the charm.  

We found a toothpick worked best.

 All the charms were placed in cupcake liners (with each child's name written inside).

  We left them to dry over the weekend, but I think only 24 hrs of drying time was officially required.

On day 2, the kids painted their charms (front, back, and sides) with acrylic paint.

We tried to encourage the kids not too load up too heavily on the paint so that the hole and the dime imprint wouldn't get filled in.  Didn't always work though! :)

When they charms were dry, we wrote each child's name and the year on the back with a fine point Sharpie marker.

Then the teachers used a hot glue gun to attach the dimes.

The kids threaded a piece of stretchy string through the hole and added beads.

And here's the result-

Dime-on bracelets fit for a QUEEN!

The kids helped wrap them up with a copy of the gift note below inside the package.  

We wanted the moms to know that they were getting a real DIME-ON bracelet after all! :)

The gift note in this photo would be included with a girl's present. 

The boys' moms will get a gift note signed, 

Love, your little prince

Then we had the kids tape the present to the inside of the card they made last day.

I'm happy to share free copies of the gift notes for boys and girls HERE.

I recommend printing them on coloured paper to give them extra flair!  

If you'd like to make the Mother's Day cards that go with this gift, check them out HERE.  

You can pick up the FREE printables to make the card while you're there.  

For more FREE Mother's Day ideas and printables, including ideas for tea parties, just look in the Mother's Day category in my TPT store.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!  

Mother's Day Card Idea for Kids plus Free Printables

Mother's Day is fast approaching and we're just finishing up our cards and gifts.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when we've got every mom covered!  Especially for the kids who are often away!

This year we went with a bit of a "mom is a queen" theme.

Because, let's face it, moms are like queens! :)

Today I'll show you the cards we made.  

The gifts, I'll have to feature in a separate post.  

(I'm still missing a photo or two!)  

You'll see the queens in our cards have different hair colours - each colour carefully chosen to look just like mom's! :)

Moms with black hair....

Moms with brown hair....

Moms with blonde hair....

And yes, I'll admit the poor blonde moms got a bit ripped off.  

There was no yellow yarn as expected and so they got some dry, brittle straw hair!

But hey, highlights can do some pretty harsh things to one's hair so maybe there's a bit of truth to the look. :) (Spoken by one who knows!)

The inside of the card featured this message.

To make the cards, the kids were all given images of a face  and a crown to glue to the front of the card.

I knew it would be hard for the kids to colour the face and the crown (we don't even own "skin coloured" felts) so I printed the crown on yellow paper, the face on skin coloured paper, and the cards' message on pink paper.

The kids glued these pieces to the center of the card, then used a marker to draw on the facial features.  

Last, they glued on the hair, jewels, and sparkles.

We used cardstock paper to help support all of the jewels. 

 The card would just flop over if it was made out of regular paper.   

If you'd like to make a similar card for Mother's Day, I have posted the crown, face, and card message for you HERE.

Watch for our Mother's Day gift idea coming next!

  

Thinking of Hosting a Mother's Day Tea Party for your class? Check out these photos!

Hosting a Mother's Day Tea Party has become one of our annual preschool traditions.  

As we all know, being a mom is hard work!  

Moms deserve a little celebrating and pampering!

And the kids always love having a special day with their moms at school.

Here's some photos of our event.  

On party day, the moms entered the room to see it decorated with activity stations and an eating area.

Of course, we used pink tablecloths!

We had fresh flowers on all the tables

lovingly picked from my garden...

and ...my neighbour's garden. 

(I didn't have quite enough flowers in my own garden, so I had no choice but to "prune" some branches that were hanging over the fence into my yard.  

The things I do for preschool!)

So pretty though!

The children laid out napkins at each place setting and sprinkled sequins on the tables to make things look festive.

Here's the bulletin board we created for the big event.

We lit aromatherapy candles so the room smelled nice and played our Celtic Dreamland CD to help create a "spa-like atmosphere."

(Tee hee. As much as you can have a spa-like atmosphere at preschool!) 

(This CD is also awesome for playing on days when your class is a little "rambunctious."  It's so calming!)

We began the event with the moms sitting at the tables to watch the children perform their Mother's Day songs.

( CLICK HERE for song ideas)

  For drinks, we served iced tea so that the children could bring the drinks to the moms themselves.

All part of the pampering!

For the snack we had brownies and ice cream, which again the kids served to the moms.

(As you can imagine, this was a busy part of the party

so, sorry, there are no photos of this stage!)

  

After eating, moms and kids participated in the various STATIONS AND ACTIVITIES!

Here's our Massage Station.  

In case you're wondering, the feathers were for gently tickling mom's face!

Here's our Sniff and Guess Station.

Underneath the question marks, we had written what was inside each cup.

Cups included things like:

coffee beans, mustard, cinnamon, etc.

Here's one of our wipeable sheets to record how you were doing on the "test!"

This is our Nail Polish and Makeup Station.  

The moms were great sports, even letting their child apply eyeshadow to their face.

Ah...looks like this mom just had her makeover!

 Aren't moms awesome?

 Next we have our Feel and Guess Station.

Our Handprint Keepsake Activity...

  CLICK HERE if you'd like a FREE copy of this worksheet.

 Our Reading Station...

And a 2 Person Number Game.

  (I'll be featuring this one in an upcoming unit.)

We wrapped up the party with a group reading of the super cute book,

"My Mother is Weird" by Rachna Gilmore

And then we opened gifts.

(CLICK HERE to see my previous post on gifts)

Whew!  

This was a longer post than usual, 

but I didn't want to leave anything out.  

Hope this helps if you are planning your own

Mother's Day Tea Party 

and wanted some more ideas.

To all you moms out there, 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!! 

I hope you take some time to recharge and pamper yourself  on your special day!

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Need some Song Ideas for Your Mother's Day Performance? Check out these Songs and Crafts!

We love to do performances for the parents in our class. 

 And no matter how the show goes, parents always seem to LOVE watching the kids perform. 

 Whether the children all sing or don't sing -- doesn't matter!  
Whether the children all remember their lines or some of them forget -- not a concern!

  Parents don't even seem to mind misbehaviour.  

In fact, sometimes a child doing "his own thing" is the most amusing part of the show - unless of course, it is your child who is "doing his own thing!"  
Then it is not so amusing!  :)

So, with our Mother's Day Tea Party coming up, of course we are planning for the children to perform a few songs.  

One pick for this year will be the song Skinnamarink.

If you're not familiar with this one, just check out the words below.  The tune you can easily find on You Tube.

I have written some possible actions for the children beside each of the lines.  
Hopefully you can figure them out with no visuals!  

Skinnamarink

Skinnamarinky dinky dink 
(arms out with elbows bent like a genie on "skinnamarinky"
then one elbow bends so that right hand goes in the air and wiggles fingers on dinky dink)
Skinnamarinky do,
(arms back down like a genie on "skinnamarinky" and then switch to bend other elbow and have left hand in the air with wiggling fingers on "do")
I love you!
(hands to heart and then point towards the moms)

Skinnamarinky dinky dink 
(same actions as above)

Skinnamarinky do,

I love you!

I love you in the morning,
(hands touching to create a circle down low)

And in the afternoon
(raise the circle to waist level)

I love you in the evening,
(raise the circle above head)

Underneath the moon…

Skinnamarinky dinky dink
(repeat chorus actions)

Skinnamarinky do,

I love you!


And for another song option...

A song that is familiar to most, but still a big hit with the moms, is "You Are My Sunshine."

We usually just sing the first verse below.

You Are My Sunshine

You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy 
When skies are gray
You'll never know, mom
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.

While performing the song, the children hold up a sun that they have made.

When the song is finished, the children each take a turn coming up to the front.

We ask each of them, "Why is your mom your sunshine?" 

Then the child flips his sun around and holds it high in the air.
Written on the back of the sun is the reason that they chose.

The children can either say their reason out loud, or the teacher can read it for them. 

If you read it for them, it is helpful to record each child's reason onto a master list so that you don't have to try to read from each child's sun.

It was a couple of years ago that I performed "You are My Sunshine" on Mother's Day.  

But I remember the laughs, giggles, and even a few happy tears being shed when the moms listened to the reasons why they were loved by their kids.    

I do like to bring out people's sentimental side!

Below, I have a copy of the directions and worksheets (2 options) to make the sun craft if you'd like to try it with your class.

To pick up your FREE copy, just visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop by clicking
HERE

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