PAINTED FLOWERPOTS

Last year was the first time I needed to think about a Mother’s Day gift that wasn’t for my own Mother.  I was childminding/babysitting 2 children of different ages ( 16 months and 10 years), and at different times of the day.  So I needed to come up with different ideas for them, but ones that would also work for my own children to participate in as well.  This painted flowerpot is the first gift we made with the younger child, as well as my own children.

I bought some small clay pots from a gardening shop, and made sure to get the trays to go with them (I hate when you have to use a saucer to catch any water that drains through the pot after watering).

I gave each child a clay flowerpot and a paintbrush and let them paint their own design on their flowerpot using some acrylic paints.  The paints had come with a canvas purchased at a £1 shop.  I was using the canvas for another project, but the little sample-sized paint tubes have come in so handy for many other things!  I do like them because they are so much easier to wipe off little hands than the ‘child friendly’ paints.  I made little tin foil bowls to squeeze the paint into so that it was easier for cleaning up.  When you have very young ones around, you need to be fast during the clean-up phase or trouble may follow!  I made sure to stand nearby to ensure none of the paint went near little mouths, and to keep the painted flowerpots from rolling off the kitchen table and smashing on the floor.

Here you can see Kallista really enjoying herself with her painted flowerpot and adding lots of colour to it!

When the children were done, I set the painted flowerpots up on the window sill to dry for a day or two.

When they were dry, Phil separated some potted flowers that I had also purchased from the garden centre  and they made a really beautiful gift!

Kallista and Tristan gave one of their painted flowerpots to Phil’s Mom for Mother’s Day, and we took the other painted flowerpot over to Canada to give to my mom for Mother’s Day (though without the flowers).  Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the filled flowerpots as we had made last-minute plans to visit my family for Easter and the house was crazy with preparations. As Mother’s Day is three weeks before Easter in the UK, and not until May in North America, we didn’t get to see Mom’s flowerpot planted.  But she did send a photo of it for us to use in this blog post.  Thanks, Mom!

Of course, these painted flowerpots don’t have to be used as gifts for Mother’s Day.  You can use them in your own home or garden to brighten up the yard and make your children proud to see their artistic skills ‘bloom’.  Happy painting!

To see more great ideas head over to our Mother’s  Day page, summer fun page, or follow us on Pinterest.