Mothering Sunday crafts

On your marks

You can never have enough craft ideas for Mothering Sunday, so here are six more to use with your midweek uniformed groups, on a Sunday morning, at Messy Church or at home.

Get set

See each craft idea for materials needed and instructions.

Go!

Stress ball gifts

You will need:

• balloons – the more colourful the better
• flour, lentils or round grain rice
• a funnel (this can be made from a cut-off plastic bottle)
• ribbon or pretty string/wool.

The balloons are best blown up once – before you start to fill them. Insert the ‘cap’ end of the funnel into the balloon and pour in flour, lentils or rice. Tie the top of the balloon and use the ribbon or wool to make a bow over the knot.

Pop-up flower or butterfly card

You will need:

• a colourful example of a ready-made card to show the children
• templates
• different coloured paper to make flowers or butterflies
• felt-tipped pens
• strong glue
• plain paper to make the ‘spring’
• A4 card or stiff paper folded in half to make the card
• glitter and any decorative bits and bobs.

Choose a piece of card or paper for the base. Using a template, draw a flower or butterfly on coloured card and cut it out. To make the ‘spring’, cut two lengths of plain paper 15 cm x 1cm. Attach these pieces together at right angles, then fold one piece across the other in turn until all the strip is used, and attach the two ends together. Glue one end of the paper spring to the main card and the other end to the flower or butterfly in the position of choice. You could cut a circle or oval shape in the outer portion of the card and attach the flower or butterfly to the inner portion, but ensure the cut-out shape is large enough for the flower or butterfly to spring through. Decorate and write in the card for a gift.

Life-size mum

You will need:

• a drawn and cut-out figure (ask an adult to lie down on a large sheet of wallpaper lining paper and draw around their profile)
• felt-tipped pens.

Stick the cut-out shape up on the wall. Explain that you want everyone to think about what mothers do – with their hands, hearts and heads – for their children. Write their ideas on to the appropriate areas of the cut-out model and fill in the facial features. Encourage the children to talk about the variety of skills that mums have.

Family tree

You will need:

• a large background picture of a tree outline for everyone
• paper
• crayons

Invite everyone to draw their own family group, cut out the pictures and stick them on to the tree background. Encourage everyone to talk about their individual family and how they are one group made up of several members – this will include extended families and talking about what things unite them.

If this is done in the context of an all-age service or Messy Church, the pictures of family groups could be mounted on to a very large tree background and the leader could emphasise the point that the church is like an enormous family group, where we support and care for each other.

Family concertina figures

You will need:

• A4 paper cut in half lengthways
• a ruler
• pencil and pens

Lightly mark the strips of paper at 6-cm intervals – there should be six divisions. Fold the paper at the 6-cm marks, concertina fashion, and draw a figure in pencil on the top division. Cut around this figure taking care to leave the hands and toes uncut. Finally, unfold and let the children draw their family members on the divisions – if they do not want six figures the others can be easily removed.

Promise gift

You will need:

• small envelopes
• felt-tipped pens or crayons.

Explain that sometimes we can give a gift that does not cost money – we can give our time. Ask the children what things they could promise to do for their mums at home – for example, brush the garden path, tidy their room after school, wash the dishes on Sunday. Get them to write or draw their chosen activity and put it in the envelope as a gift. Decorate the envelope and write ‘A gift from… with love.’