Photograph Paper Plate Flowers

Every year it's fun to think of something handmade and sweet we can make for the "grandmothers" for Mother's Day. But, we usually have to wait a little bit to share the project as my mom regularly reads our posts. (Proof that moms never stop supporting you, no matter your age or endeavor.)

We made these photograph paper plate flowers to decorate our Mother's Day gifts last weekend, and I just love how they turned out. Although we made them at home, this could be an easy classroom project too! 

In fact, the former preschool teacher in me would love to see a whole bulletin board of these in a classroom. 

Materials:

Small paper plates (appetizer size)

Washable Paint 

Solid colored muffin liners

Paper straws

Glue Stick

Tape

Kid/Family photographs

To begin with, have kiddos paint the paper plates. We stuck with four colors: red, purple, yellow, and white. The boys mixed the colors on the plates as they painted. 

They made some of the plates look like they had "centers" while other plates they pained one whole color. 

Let the paint dry (we left ours for several days, although I think the paint was actually dry within a few hours.) When the plates were fully dry we cut the edges of the plate in short straight lines, about 2 inches for each cut. We went all the way around the plate. 

Next cut the muffin liners using a similar technique on the edges as used on the paper plates (only using shorter cuts.) We stuck with red and yellow liners for our flowers. 

The next step includes printing out photographs. We printed photos onto white card stock. I choose one photo of each of the boys and also one family photo. We used a glass jar to trace a circle onto each photo. (Hint, the glass made it easier to see how the photo lined up.) 

Line up the paper plate, the muffin liner, and the photograph on top of one another. Use the glue stick to attach all three together. 

Next use the tape to attach one straw to the back of each paper plate flower. We found our colorful straws in the party section. (In fact, they are left over from Big Brother's Mini Golf Party.) 

We added our paper plate flowers to plant pots filled with several Mother's Day goodies! 

Although we used these as present decorations, they would be so cute used in so many other ways - class bulletin board, thank you cards, graduation party decorations . . . 

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