Mother's Day Garden of Hearts

5/1/2014

Mother's Day is right around the corner, and I wanted to use the holiday to reinforce some of the basic family relationships I've been talking about with my three year old daughter. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to talk with her about just what a mother is and what a mother does.

We made a 'Garden of Hearts' to represent all of the mother-figure people in my daughter's life. All you need for this activity is a few empty toilet paper rolls, tape, paints (any colors), paper, and markers. First, you bend the toilet paper roll into a heart shape, and then tape it along the top so that it retains its shape. (This idea has been around Pinterest for at least a couple of years.)

Mother's Day Garden of Hearts // GrowingLittleLeaves.com

Next, we got out a sheet of paper. I ripped a sheet out of one of their larger art pads, but a regular sheet of printer paper would work fine, too. My daughter drew some grass at the bottom with a green marker. Not completely necessary, but it's something easy the kids can do and it gives the picture a nice touch. (You can also do the grass at the end, if you wish.)

Drawing grass

Next, put a little paint on a scrap piece of paper or on a paper plate. (You don't need a lot of paint.) Dip the toilet paper roll heart into the paint and stamp it onto the paper. Once I showed my daughter how to do it, she did fine on her own. Children a little younger or those who have special needs in the motor skills area, may require assistance. (Having the kids wear an art smock is also a good idea, especially if the paints and markers you are using are not washable.) Unless you want to try to mix colors, use a different toilet paper roll for each color you want to use.

Dipping 'stamp' into paint

Stamping away!

Here is what it looked like when she was done stamping. We let the paint dry on the paper while we had lunch.

After it was dry, my daughter drew stems on each heart so that they looked like flowers.

After she was done with the stems, I told her that each of these hearts was going to be some lady in her life that loves her, has taken care of her, helped her, taught her, given her gifts, etc. I want her to see 'Mother's Day' as a celebration of motherly virtues, and not just a holiday restricted to biological mothers and grandmothers. We did start out our conversation by listing people in her family who fit these characteristics - mom, grandmas, aunts - but then I told her to think about who loves her at school, and she wanted to give hearts to her three preschool teachers, as well. I wrote the names of each person in the hearts, but, if you have them available, you could also glue little photos of each person in the hearts instead.