Mother's Day Storytime

Instead of having Mother's Day Storytime on Mother's Day this coming Sunday, I planned it a week early so that the kids could make a gift for mom ahead of time. I've been saving jars since the beginning of the year and finally found a craft I wanted to use them for... flower vases so cheerful and bright!

Figuring out the craft was easy, but the actuall story time gave me some trouble. A lot of the mother's day books are (in my opinion) pretty sappy... My mommy loves me even when I'm _____, my mommy loves me no matter what, I miss my mommy when she is away, etc. etc. So to keep storytime on the lighter side, I selected a few books that were not you're typical Mother's Day reads.

Mother's Day Storytime Line-up:

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

Started with the classic. I'm pretty sure this was one of my brother's favorite books growing up. You can't go wrong with P.D. Eastman.

My monster Mama Loves Me So by Laura Leuck, illustrated by Mark Buehner

I was thinking about using this book for Halloween storytime, but I thought it would be a fun spin to use it for Mother's Day instead.

Joey by Jack Kent

After reading Round Robin, I've become a big fan of Jack Kent books. Joey is a silly book about a mother kangaroo who doesn't want her joey to stray too far from home. Instead she encourages him to invite his friends over to the pouch, which in no time at all starts to get a wee bit crowded.

Not Inside This House by Kevin Lewis, illustrated by David Ercolini

Another funny mother and child story which starts as Livingstone Columbus Magellan Crouse bringing home a few bugs and turns into an affinity for bringing home all kinds of wilderness and whatnot. Naturally, mom is not pleased. A goofy, light-hearted story about picking and choosing your battles.

Because You're My Baby by Sherry North, illustrated by Marcellus Hall

This was my lovey dovey pick. From sailing a ship with sails of cotton candy and a crew of penguins, to off-roading on the moon, a mother will do anything for her child.

Flower Vase Craft:

I've been a bit of a hoarder with glass jars this year. Anything for a small mustard jar to large 2lb applesauce jars. I used a few for this fairy jar craft back in March, but I've finally put the rest to good use! We made these colorful flower vases for Mother's Day gifts as our craft after storytime.

Materials used: glass jar, tissue paper, scissors, paintbrush, and glue. That's it!

Before storytime the only thing I did to prep was cut out small squares from tissue paper.

When it was time to make the craft after reading our books, I squirted glue into paper plates.. that way the glue wasn't drying while I was reading to the kids. Then, each kid selected a jar and a paintbrush and started to paint a single coat of glue around the jar.

Then, they applied the tissue paper squares to the glue.

I liked making an ombre effect with my example jar, but the kids, as usual, were very crafty and made mosaic looking vases, or only used a little bit of tissue paper on the top or bottom which also had a nice effect.

I added another coat of glue over the tissue paper to seal it after I was done, but it isn't absolutely necessary to do. It does take a little longer to dry that way.

Once dry, they're flower ready!

Here's the one L made for me, currently on display in our house.

I love it.

Have a Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful, amazing moms out there!

image source: are you my mother, monster mama, joey, not in this house, because you are my baby