Pssst, Kids: Mother’s Day is coming up soon. Are you looking for science and art projects that will be nice Mother’s Day presents? Here are a few ideas. I would love to hear yours.
1.   Decorate a pot and plant a flower, houseplant or herb for your mother to enjoy.
Gather:
- Clay pot of appropriate size
- Potting soil and water
- Pot paint (preferred) or acrylic craft paint, acrylic paint markers (optional).
- Plant or seeds
Decorate the pot by painting it and let it dry. The acrylic paint dries fairly quickly so you can make designs. Use acrylic paint markers to add words such as “Happy Mother’s Day.â€
Cover the hole in the bottom of the pot with a small stone and fill pot about half way with potting soil, if you are using a plant purchased from a nursery. Add your plant and fill remaining soil around it. If you started some cuttings from the plant propagation activity, they would look great in a pot, too.
If you want, you can also start with seeds. Fill the pot with potting soil and plant the seeds according to the instructions on the package. Here are some chives and basil plants just starting.
Remember to keep your plants watered while you are waiting for that special day.
2.   Dye some white flowers her favorite color.
Gather:
- Vases – one for each color you are going to test
- Water
- White flowers such as carnations
- Food coloring
Place the white flowers in vases of water. If an adult is helping you, ask him or her to cut the stem at an angle, preferable under water, so the flowers can take up water easily. Add at least 20 drops of food coloring to each vase, a different color in each one. If you have enough vases and flowers, leave one without food coloring to use as a control. Watch and see what happens for about a day. Compare whether all the colors worked the same. Place all the flowers together in a pretty vase of fresh water and present to your mother.
3.   Make a picture or card of pressed flowers.
Did you press any flowers with a plant press from the activity about weeds? Use the flowers to make a nice flower bouquet that your mother can enjoy for a long time.
There are several ways to use pressed flowers. The easiest is to glue the flowers to a piece of paper with white glue. Use a small paint brush and/or tweezers to help move the delicate dried plants. If you have some, special paper glue used in paper arts works best.
Doesn’t this dried flower look a bit like a hummingbird?
You can also use contact and wax paper, as suggested at About.com.
4.   Draw a picture of her favorite flower and/or animal.
Use markers or crayons to draw a picture for your mom. If you want to try something new, try using watercolor markers to draw small circles for the body and head of animals and then add details with a black sharpie.
Mix pressed plants and drawings for a neat effect.
5.   Make a card using the paper you made in the recycled paper activity.
6. Write your mom a poem. Mothers love poems!
For inspiration fold an origami animal, like the butterfly at the bottom of this post, and then write your poem on it.
These are just a few suggestions. If you have more, please let us know.
