Tried and true, the juice can pencil cup holders made wonderful Mother's Day gifts, and still do. There are more ways to make Mother's Day presents that reuse and recycle, thereby honoring Mother Earth as well as the children's mothers.
Instruct students to cut the cardboard tubes into equal sections. Each child needs one section for each member of his or her family.
They can use scissors or pinking shears to cut various fabric into small pieces. Then they plan a mosaic design on each cardboard tube section, and glue the fabric pieces in place.
They can decorate the napkin rings with pieces of ribbon, lace, or buttons.
Each plastic lid will make one coaster, and plastic lids come in many different sizes. Consider having students make one big one, perhaps for Mom's large coffee or soup mug. Students may also make a set of four smaller coasters.
Students turn the lids upside down and squeeze a lot of glue into the plastic lids. The lip of the lid must be up, and will hold in the glue. The entire flat surface of the lid must be covered with glue for this project to work.
Very carefully, each student places yarn around the inner edge of the lid, and continues to work his or her way around and toward the center. This takes good fine motor coordination, and children may need to make a few mistakes before they get it right. Be patient with them.
If the glue starts to dry out early, instruct them to add a little more.
When the coaster has tightly woven yarn covering the entire inside of the lid, and the yarn is wet with glue, the coaster is finished. Set them aside and let them dry overnight.
Consider experimenting with different color combinations of yarn, or buy yarn that is already multi-colored for a lovely effect.
