Mother's Day Ideas

You've all probably planned your Mother's Day events by now (if not, why not?) but just in case you haven't, or if you've still got room to add and change your programme then I figured I'd throw out a few ideas.

As an event which celebrates part of the family unit, Mother's Day is a fantastic opportunity for encouraging families to work for each other and with each other.

Some fun ideas that I've had over the years;

- an event that encourages kids to bring their Dad to make something for Mum as a present. This works particularly well when they're doing an activity that Dad will probably feel plays to his strength, such as making a picture frame (Dad's are responsible for supervising the gluing of the wood together for the frame, the kids can take the lead on the painting-and-sticking decoration).

- making bath salts in glass jars as a gift for Mum. This is so easy even very small children can do it, as essentially they're just mixing in colours and scents in a giant mixing bowl and then decanting it into glass jars. Make sure you buy cosmetic grade epsom salts, colours and scents so that they're bath safe. Personalise the activity more by having the children decorate the jar with labels, ribbons and so on.

- making Mother's Day cards. A tip; don't run this activity on Mother's Day itself, as most people have already given their cards by then! If you're going to make cards, do it in the week or weekend before. This sort of activity would work very well with groups of children. There are lots of types of cards you can make, but I find the pop-up flower cards are excellent for Mother's Day, as are the paper tissue flowers with pipe cleaner stems.

- encourage Mum and children to share memories and play together with a special trail. Ask children and their mum to tell each other what their favourite object in a room is, or get them to pick an object and explain it to one another. Play i-spy, twenty questions or other games, using the museum as the starting point. Some of these work well even with older children.

- make Mum medals. Rosettes, made with paper or ribbon, are a lot of fun and fairly easy to make though they can be time consuming. Rosettes can be made to say 'Happy Mother's Day', 'Best Mum', 'I Love You' or anything else at all.

There's just a few suggestions there but hopefully its given you some ideas.

If you'd like step by step instructions for any of the crafts I've mentioned please just ask, and I've sometimes got trail or worksheet templates as well so shout if you'd like them.

If you've got a topic you'd like me to cover in a how-to post, just drop me a line on twitter @Sarah_Fellows or here on the blog and I'll see what I can do!

Hints, tips and 'how-to's

Hi everyone. I haven't updated my blog in far too long, and I do apologise for that! I'll blame the extended Christmas/Winter period somehow, if I can.

I'm planning a new series of blog posts on the lines of hints, tips and how-to articles all to do with the sorts of things I specialise in; family learning, online engagement and interpretation. I don't believe there can ever be enough free advice out there, so I thought I'd throw some of my own our into the wide world in the hopes that it helps someone.

If you've got a topic you'd like me to cover, get in touch either via comments here on the blog or on twitter @sarah_fellows. It could be anything from ideas for a pirate event (that post is definitely happening at some point) to what craft you could make with empty juice cartons to suggestions for growing a twitter following. Ask away; if I can't help I'll just say so.

Hopefully this will open the door for many comments (though I'd settle for one or two, if you're offering).

Thanks all! And I hope this proves useful for everyone.