When I was in 6th grade my teacher had us do a special Mother’s Day project. She had wooden cutouts of kites that were painted white. We glued on a sweet poem, painted flowers around it, and then added some colorful ribbon. My mom still has them hanging in her kitchen (one from me and one from my brother).
I wanted to have my kiddos make something special for Mother’s Day that their moms could hang up for many years to come. I love Georgia O’Keeffe’s beautiful flower paintings and decided that they were the perfect inspiration for our Mother’s Day project!
I picked up a couple packs of 12×12 canvases from Michaels using my 40% off coupon and a bunch of bright colored paints.
To start off, I showed my kiddos some pictures of Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers, pointing out how they were all close-ups of the flowers that took up the whole page (sometimes even having the ends of the pedals cut off by the edges of the picture). We also talked about how artists don’t just use one color, but many times they use a few different colors or shades that they blend together.
Then they took out their pencil and lightly drew a design for their flower.
As they started to finish their pencil outlines, I walked around and had them pick out their paint colors and then put a couple squirts of them on their brown paper bag.
I brought some real flowers in to put in the middle of their teams to help provide inspiration for their paintings. They loved being able to look at the flowers close-up and I love the color they bring to the room! I wish I could have fresh flowers at their teams year round!
I LOVE how these turn out every year! I am so excited for my students to give them to their moms! I will be taking more pictures tomorrow and then we will be wrapping them up and sending them home!
This is such a neat project! I wish that I was a mom receiving one of these 🙂 I may just make one for myself!
These turned out so beautiful! Your students did a wonderful job! The mommies will be SO happy! 🙂
Michelle
Apples and ABC's
These are amazing!!! I earned my BA in Art History and O'Keefe is one of my top 3 favorite artists to share with my kiddos. I think your students' moms will absolutely love these paintings! Thanks for sharing!
Aimee
Primarily Speaking
You blog my mind!!!! Where do you find the time???? Such an awesome and thoughtful gift idea!!! They turned out beautiful!!
4th Grade Frolics
They turned out beautifully! A very ambitious project,but I kind of want to do it now! We shall see! Thanks for sharing!
Laura
Mrs. Castro's Class 2nd Grade…Spanglish Style
This is an amazing idea!! I love it!!!
❤Teri
A Cupcake for the Teacher
Love, love, love this idea! Thanks so much for sharing. I bet their mother's are going to LOVE this too. They all did such a great job.
April
Wolfelicious
What an amazingly cute idea!
omg love this ideaaa good think you had a coupon… im your newest follower…stop by =)
Just Wild About Teaching
Hi Molly,
The painting are beautiful! I'm sure all of the moms will love them. One question for you—Can you tell me approximately how much the paintings cost you to make? Thanks so much!
Heather
I would totally LOVE to get one of these . . . they are breathtaking!! Thanks for the post and for blessing your little one's moms with these flowers.
Barbara
The Corner On Character
Hi Heather!
The paintings cost about $3 per student. I bought the canvases in packs of 7, which were $29 per pack, but I used a 40% off coupon for them. I already had a lot of paint and paintbrushes, so I just picked up a couple more bottles of paint, which were only about $1 each. I figured it is a little bit of a gift from me to the moms as well for being so wonderful!
Those are gorgeous! Love them!
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Buzzing with Ms. B
Wow! These are gorgeous.
❤Traci❤
Dragonflies in First
These are sooooo cool!! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
✿Nicole
Teaching With Style
Um, WOW. Those paintings are gorgeous! Love this.
-Charmaine, Community Advocate at QuickSchools
I love these! Your kids are so talented. I may have to try this next week before school gets out!
Jenn
Best Practices 4 Teaching
These are gorgeous — I'm sure their moms loved them!! I want one from my own girls! : )
This is a beautiful idea! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity. I am going to do this with my 4th graders this week.
Can these paintings be done all at one time, or do you need to let the paint dry so the colors that touch don’t “bleed” together?
Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind comment!!!! We did them all at one time!