Toddler Theme: Mothers

Photo Credit: Kourtney Hand Photography

With Mother's Day coming up, we made our focus Mothers this week.  I decided that this would be a perfect time for this mother to take a mini blogging break.  So while we still celebrated this theme by reading mother-centric books, I nixed structured activities in favor of some extra snuggles with my girls instead.  I did, however, want to share our little Mother's Day gifts craft project.  I found a tutorial for heart thumbprint charms on the That's What Che Said blog (see it here).  I followed her directions pretty closely except that I bought gold polymer clay which eliminated the whole painting step.  You know how I like to keep it simple and all.  The heart is made up of both Mia & Millie's thumbprints and maybe it's just me because I'm their mother, but gosh, these made me smile.  Oh, and I bought all of the supplies at Michael's for under $10 (polymer clay, DMC floss, mini heart cutter as part of a 6 piece Wilton set...look in the baking aisle).  If you include the pack of Spritz blank note cards from Target that we used to package the gifts all up, then this whole project came in under $15.  We ended up making 7 charm necklaces for all of the great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and godmothers.  Then Mia wanted her own so we made an extra set for both sisters (does this count as their first best friends necklaces?).  I laced ribbon through a couple to use as Christmas ornaments later this year.  So, all in all, we made 12 charms and still had leftover supplies.

BARGAIN NOTE - I just noticed a slew of cool new art supplies in the Dollar Spot at my local Target.  There were all kinds of paints, dabber paint markers, textured paint brushes, sand play clay, pony beads, bath paint, etc.  We're going to be having Texture week soon so not a bad idea to snag some cheap supplies ;)

A summary of all Mothers week activities with links:

ART PROJECT: Made polymer clay fingerprint heart charm necklaces for grandmothers, aunts, & godmothers (full tutorial here)

BOOKS: I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt, Olivia by Ian Falconer, My Mom Snaps by Kari McGrath, Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman, I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

BIBLE STORY: Jesus' mother Mary

If you'd like to share a photo of your kid doing theme week activities, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).