Mothers Day crafts for kids

Nothing says ‘I love you, Mum!’ more than a handmade gift or card, so we’ve got you covered with a couple of fun, thoughtful and quirky craft ideas to give to your loved one this Mother’s Day. Plus, a delicious brownie recipe that is sure to put a smile on everyone’s dial.

‘Heart in Hand’ pop-up card

These cards are easy to make (kids may need assistance with cutting) and come with a love-filled surprise too. A pop-up heart within the card!

What you’ll need:

• 2 x colours of scrap, A4 paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Black pen
• Pencil

Method:

1. Fold your A4 piece of paper in half and place the hand that will be traced palm down, close to the bottom of the paper, with the either side of the palm touching the folded edge. Trace around the edges and each finger with a pencil. Cut along the tracing line to be left with the hands cut out. When you unfold the paper, you’ll have two hands connected like a butterfly.
2. Now for the heart, give a guide to the card maker as to how big the heart should be (should be big enough to cover the size of both palms in the cut out), and let them trace the outline of a heart onto a different coloured piece of paper. Cut out the heart with scissors.
3. Fold the heart in half vertically, then in half horizontally. A good way to guide your card maker to do this is by drawing faint pencil lines for fold lines, then rubbing them out once folded. Then, fold the hands cut out in half vertically down the middle.
4. Now for the special message! Write the message on the heart cut-out in black pen or whatever colour stands out against the heart colour of choice.
5. This might be a step for Dad or the card making supervisor… Glue the bottom half of the heart cutout (the pointy end) and stick that down onto the palms of the hands cut-out so both vertical folds line up with each other. And voila! Fold the hands in half and unfold to reveal the pop-up heart.

Get baking

Share the love with these especially delicious chocolate and beetroot cupcakes. Fun to make and even more to eat! Find the recipe here.

Cupcake liner flower bookmarks

So, you’ve got leftover cupcake liners from the Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes? Why not put them to use with these adorable Cupcake liner Flower Bookmarks.

What you’ll need:

• Paddle-pop sticks (plain or coloured)
• Cupcake liners
• Craft glue (clear drying)
• Buttons, felt, scrap coloured paper
• scissors

Method:

1. Using two cupcake liners, have one made slightly smaller than the other by either cutting with scissors or creatively ripping… Using the glue, place a small amount of glue in the center of the larger cupcake liner and stick the smaller one onto it so just the centers are glued together. Repeat this however many times to make multiple flowers.
2. Once the cupcake flowers have dried, place a small amount of glue onto the back of the cupcake liner center and stick onto the top of a paddle-pop stick. Repeat with all other cupcake liner flowers.
3. For the center of each flower, use anything colourful and round to fill this space! Could be buttons you no longer have a pair of, leftover felt or scrap paper, even fluffy pom poms could do the trick!

Bow-tie pasta bouquet

How to make a bouquet of flowers last forever? Use pasta from the pantry, of course! This bow-tie pasta bouquet is sure to last forever…

What you’ll need:

• Bow-tie pasta, raw (can be coloured, approx 20 pieces for a small-medium bouquet)
• Craft glue
• Brown paper or fabric
• Ribbon or twine
• White paper, A4
• Scissors

Method:

1. Fold the A4 piece of paper in half – you can guide where the fold should be for the bouquet maker by folding the paper loosely first.
2. For the bouquet wrapping paper, cut out a triangle/diamond shape as shown in the image. Then, cut a length no shorter than 10cm of twine or ribbon – the bouquet maker might like a large bow, so cut as much as they desire. Help the bouquet maker loosely tie a bow around the base of the fabric or paper as shown in image. This is a good time to get the bouquet maker to hold the fabric or paper so you can tie the bow.
3. With the craft glue, glue the back of the bouquet wrapping towards the lower half of the white paper, leaving room for the pasta bouquet.
4. Bouquets can be as creative as you like, so really now all you have to do is switch roles and glue the flowers down as the bouquet maker see’s fit!