This family craft is perfect for Mother’s Day. In a preschool classroom, you can do it all at once or work on different parts slowly. I’d do the cutting for toddlers, but I’d require my preschoolers to do the cutting themselves. This craft was originally shared in 2009 so printing pictures at home/school wasn’t as common but now this is a breeze! Use this family craft for a simple kids made Mother’s day or Father’s Day craft!
Originally published May 26th, 2009
How To Make A Family Craft for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day
Gather your materials. You will need two pieces of construction paper(one should be green), a doily for each flower, water colors, a dish for water, glue, scissors, photos of each member of your family/ students’ families, and a circle paper punch if you want.
Start by painting your doilies with the watercolors.
When I originally posted this as a parents and tot craft, my next step was this: While your little one is painting, cut out the faces of your family. We just did Mom, Dad, and Kiddo, but extended family or friends can be included. Let your child decide; it’s interesting to see who they include.
Classroom update: In a preschool class, at free choice, I would invite children to paint the doilies to their hearts’ content; some will do just enough for their families, some will just keep going. Let them. Using small paint brushes is great for writing tool practice and fine motor work. Mixing colors is experimental science, basically – it’s all good! I could still have an adult cut out the family pictures.
Cut out stems and leaves for the flowers.
Classroom Update: After the doilies are dry ( usually at least a day later), sit down with each child, I like to pull them over real quick during free play ( but don’t interrupt deep play!) and help them count one doilie for each member of their family laying them out in front of the student. Then ask them how many stems they will need. I would encourage children to cut the stems/ leaves themselves. The stems and leaves don’t have to be perfect! Also, this is an excellent lesson in one-to-one correspondence.
Add glue to your paper for the stems and leaves, I added it as a guide for my son. He’s been rather free with the glue lately! We’ll have to channel that into a more open ended activity later this week.
Classroom update: After all the doilies are dry, stems and leaves are cut out, I’d pop them all, along with the cutout family photos, into a small tray. If you want to do this next step of the project as a whole group activity, have these: white glue and a bottom sheet of construction paper or card stock, ready for each student. I lean more towards teacher or art table time. I feel like doing more one-on-one or small group art allows teachers to use the time for teachable moments, working on specific skills, connection time ( just like crafts were for my son and me way back in 2009), and informal assessment. Teachers can work on targeted vocabulary, notice how children are or are not able to follow one or two-step instructions, etc… Also, definitely have preschoolers do the glue themselves!
Add the stems and leaves.
Add more glue for the flowers—this time, I gave it to him. This is about 2% of the glue that made it onto the paper and is still drying 5 hours later! He didn’t eat it, though, so it’s progress.
Classroom update: A note about glue. My preschool class uses little recycled applesauce containers with glue and tiny brushes. This is excellent fine motor work, but so is using glue bottles. I am trying to alternate more. The glue bottles offer hand-eye coordination practice and work on hand strength development as they squeeze the bottle! So, no matter your choice, they are great for development.
Add the flowers
Glue the pictures in the middle ( I should have cut the images into larger circles).
Classroom update: If you have printed the family pictures using regular paper, for this step, you will want to use either permanent double-stick tape (linked to my favorite brand), glue dots ( also linked), or a good-quality glue stick. The white glue may be too wet and seep through, wrecking the photo.
Let dry and gift this great family craft for Mother’s Day.
Classroom update: With older kids, you may want to get some bug stickers or have them add grass—whatever works for your group!
Books About Families
“Something from Nothing” by Phoebe Gilman is one of those books that you read and think, “Oh, I love it!” But will kids feel the same way? I’m here to tell you that they absolutely do! They adore this old Yiddish folk tale about a little boy, his very special blanket, and his grandfather who made it for him.
Over the years, Joseph’s blanket transforms into a jacket, a vest, a tie, a handkerchief, and finally a button. The story is beautiful, and children enjoy the repetitive text when the grandfather is sewing, as well as the ongoing storyline of the mice that live under the floorboards, who use the scraps of material for various purposes. There are no silly gimmicks, no lights or sounds—just a wonderful story paired with beautiful illustrations in this gem of a book! It’s a fantastic tale about family and the process of growing up..
“Stella the Star” by Mark Shulman tells the story of a little girl named Stella, who plays a significant role in her school play. When her teacher sends home a note saying that she is the “star,” her parents assume she has the leading role, and they are immensely proud. However, they later discover that she does not have the top part in the show. What I appreciate about this book is that the parents remain just as proud and loving, even after learning that their daughter has a smaller role. It conveys a valuable lesson: what truly matters is putting your heart into your role and doing your best, rather than seeking the spotlight.
“Jazz Baby” by Lisa Wheeler had my son clapping and bebopping in his jammies before bed. This book is so fun to read, the musical words are impossible not to dance to. My son loves jazz, and his only disappointment was that there were no trumpets in the book. He didn’t understand that the family in the book, which included grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, was listening to a record. I tried to tell him it was like a CD, but the illustration was a record player, and he wasn’t buying it. Still, we loved this book; the family was loving, and I loved that the older brother was holding the baby, which is uncommon in kids’ books to see a boy holding a baby. Great book even without a trumpet.
Need Budget-Friendly Professional Development Training This Summer?
I am proud to be offering Pay-What-You-Can professional development sessions this summer. These are live one-hour sessions presented July 7th-11th, 2025, over Zoom and really are pay-what-you-can! Replay access is also available for a small fee. All attendees will receive a certificate for one hour per session.
Desiree Fawn says
Something from Nothing has always been a huge favourite of mine — ever since I was tiny and my school librarian read it to our class.
I love the little mice in the borders making little things with the cloth.
So green! So eco friendly! I love it!
*~*Lis*~* says
So cute! We just made flowers at library story hour so this will fit right in! My oldest loves glue too – I ask her to put it all over but usually it’s just once big pile in the middle. We’ve gotten quite good at spreading it out with our fingers though 🙂
Allie says
Desiree – I am so glad you know it, so few people I run into do! When I read it to my PreK class they would fight over sitting right next to me so they could see the pictures of the little mice.
Lis- yes we spread glue a lot around here too!
Amy @ Literacy Launchpad says
We just did a non-fiction gardening theme in Literacy Launchpad. A little different from the idea here, but this activity could be incorporated or modified. Our favorite garden read was Whose Garden Is It? by Mary Ann Hoberman.
Shannon says
Love the family garden! I’ll have to do this with our gardening unit…Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
Rebecca says
Oh my goodness. This is so cute. I might have to file this under ‘things to do for grandparents’ or ‘things to do for daddy’s day’. Awesome.
Hobo Mama says
I was wondering what to do with all my doilies, and I just found my watercolors! Sweet!
And I put all those books on hold at the library. They sound great.
Bethany says
We love “Something from Nothing” at our house as well. Thanks for the other suggestions. We will have to check them out. Just stumbled across your blog. LOVE IT.