DLTK's Holiday Activities
Mother's Day Flower Pot Hanging

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

Tasha made this for me a when she was 5 and I still have it hanging on my wall!

Materials:

• large paper plate
• styrofoam cup (you only need 1/2 a cup for each craft)
• paint
• glue,
• string or ribbon,
• hole punch,
• green tissue paper 
• Optional:  flower colored tissue paper (yellow, pink, blue or purple all work well).

Craft Instructions:

• Have the children paint the paper plate.
• Cut the styrofoam cup in half (an adult's job) and paint it too if you like (you can see from the photo above that the kids sponge painted the cup.
• Let dry.
• Glue the cup onto the plate.
• Let dry.
• Punch a hole in the top of the plate.
  • Put a string or ribbon through.
  • Tie the ribbon so you have a loop that would go over a doorknob or a pin so mom can hang it up.
• Cut pieces of green tissue paper (about 4 inch by 4 inch pieces). 
  • Children can do this with safety scissors as the cutting doesn't need to be exact.
  • Tuck these pieces into the cup (they look like leaves).
• Cut one long strip of green tissue paper about 4 or 5 inches wide. 
  • Accordion fold (fan fold) the piece as tightly as the kids are able.
  • Keeping it folded, cut thin strips
  • tuck them into the cup (they look like grass).
• Optional:  Write HAPPY Mother's Day, the child's name and/or the year along the top.
• Optional:  Cut pieces of flower coloring tissue paper about 4 inches by 4 inches. 
  • Stack 4 pieces on top of each other (you can use different colors) with a dab of glue in the center between each layer.
  • Stick the eraser end of a pencil in the center (where the glue dabs are) and scrunch the flower up around the pencil.
  • Remove the pencil and tuck the flower(s) into the cup.

OR

• Alternative OPTION:  Cut simple flowers from construction paper or cardstock. 
  • Cut a circle around a photo of the child and glue to the center of the flower.
  • Glue the flower onto the paper plate above the cup.
  • Glue a strip of green paper as a stem below the flower (down to the cup) or draw a stem with a marker
  • for this option to work, you need a fairly small photo of the child.

Note from a viewer (Thanks Gina!):  Here's a variation of your original idea.  Simply glue silk flowers in the center of a paper plate.  Rip up pieces of complimentary colored tissue paper and glue around the edge of the plate.

Printable version of these instructions