Make a Clay Portrait of Mom for Mother’s Day

There are so many great craft ideas out there for kids to make things for Mother’s Day, but I really love these Plasticine portraits from Make it Your Own because they can be a learning activity, too.

The original uses a shallow box as the frame, but you could also make your own box out of craft sticks, maybe starting with a base made from a cereal box or another piece of cardboard. Paint it if you like, or just get started building your portrait within the frame.

What makes this a learning activity to me is that you have to really think about layering the different colors of clay, how much you need for different details and what you want to include in your portrait. You could also have kids draw a picture of mom first, then re-create that in Plasticine and see how the two compare.

I kind of want to make a self-portrait in clay now, how about you?

[Photo: Make it Your Own.]

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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