Mothers day craft
Classroom Strategies,  Kindergarten

The Perfect Mother’s Day Craft for Kids!

May 1, 2019 /

 

Mothers day craft

 

What is more precious than a tiny hand? Your kids and students will love making these beautiful hand print key chains and their Mommas will be so grateful!  Before doing this project, I had no idea how many fun ways you could use shrinky paper.  This is the perfect Mother’s Day craft!

For this project, you’ll need to gather the materials below:

  • Rainbow ink pad (or your color of choice) or acrylic paint (no need for embossing powder)

  • Embossing powder (I personally like the sparkly one to add an extra bit of flair : )

  • Scissors
  • Mod Podge (optional) It helps the key chain last longer. I recommend doing this step.
  • Parchment paper
  • Baking Sheet
  • Oven


Directions for Mother’s Day Craft

Once you have all your supplies together, it’s time to get started on the key chains!  I usually do this craft as a small group center while the rest of my class is doing independent work.  Get ready to create the perfect Mother’s Day craft!

As an alternative to the ink pad, you can also use acrylic paint.  I prefer the rainbow ink pad, because I think it’s more colorful and fun, but feel free to use any color acrylic paint you want! When you use acrylic paint, you can still use the embossing powder, I feel like it gives it a fun texture, but it’s not necessary.  

*Make sure oven is heated according to the directions on the package. Mine said 325 degrees.

  1. First, use the ink pad to cover the student’s hand completely.  Carefully lay the hand down on the Shrinky Dink paper.  Make sure the hand is pressed firmly against the paper so the hand print comes out completely.
  2. Sprinkle the embossing powder over the wet ink.  Shake off any excess powder.
  3. Cut around the edge of the hand print.  I usually leave a little bit of space around the hand print to write the name and year in.  Write the name before baking the shrinky paper.
  4. Between the pointer finger and thumb, use a hand held hole punch to add a hole for the key chain ring.
  5. Lay parchment paper down on a baking sheet and carefully place the hand prints on top.  Bake according to directions.  Mine said 325 degrees for 1 – 3 minutes. Note: While the shrinky dinks are baking, they will curl.  I did have some that curled on top of each other, but most of them did great!  If they start to curl too much, you can use an oven mitt to press them flat.  If they are too hard to press flat, bake for an additional 1 – 2 minutes and try again.
  6. Paint a thin layer of mod podge over the hand prints and let them dry.  Make sure the hole is still clear of mod podge so the key chain ring will go through it.
  7. Once the hand print is completely dry, put the key ring through the hole.  And you’re all done!  The perfect Mother’s Day gift!

 

I also get these small white paper bags for students to decorate and put their key chains in.  And of course no Mother’s Day is complete without a home made card!  You can also pick up this FREEBIE from my TpT store.

 

Be sure to check out The Butterfly Life Cycle Complete Lesson Plans!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I may receive a commission for items purchased.  But don’t worry, I never recommend products that I don’t believe in.

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34 Comments

  • Krystal Swiger

    May 4, 2019 at 9:50 pm Reply

    I’m an elementary art teacher, I do something similar for Christmas ornaments… I keep this in my phone so I don’t for get. My class size runs about 100 kids… it took me 50 ornaments to figure out how to avoid curling…

    Shrinks Dink instruction:
    325 degrees
    1-3 mins usually 1.5-2min.
    Run 3 empty pans through the oven rotation before 1 actual shrinks dink to get accurate temp.

    By putting empty pans in, and opening and closing the door it will give you a more accurate temp for the actual shrinky dinks, Plus it preheats the pan… It is completely different to go from a cool pan with shrinky dinks on it and an oven that’s been sitting closed- to a preheated pan where the oven door has been open and closed multiple times. I have found that if the pan is preheated and the door has been opened and closed multiple times following the actual rotation the shrinky dinks turn out better and stay flat.

    • sydneyp17

      April 15, 2020 at 10:06 pm Reply

      Hi Tiffany! That’s a great question. I have only used embossing powder. You might want to do a quick experiment to see if it works with the fine glitter. I do use glitter embossing powder.

    • sydneyp17

      April 15, 2020 at 10:04 pm Reply

      Hi Shantell! You should hole punch before you shrink the shrinky paper. When you mod podge, just be careful of the hole so you don’t close it up. You can always stick a q-tip in there or something. Hope that helps!

  • Lauren

    April 12, 2020 at 8:14 pm Reply

    This is so great. I love the idea. I wish my school wasn’t closed due to the covid 19 mess b/c me and my students would definitely be making these. Oh well there’s always next year lol!!!

  • Kimberly

    April 28, 2020 at 2:43 pm Reply

    Hi, instead of making a keychain can you hot glue a magnet to the back to make a magnet? I assume you would still need to use mod podge correct?

    • sydneyp17

      April 28, 2020 at 4:29 pm Reply

      Hi Kimberly! Yes, that would be a great idea! Mod Podge will help it last longer so I would recommend doing that first!

  • Megan

    April 30, 2020 at 9:14 pm Reply

    My sister tried this last year but the ink never dried (literally it was still wet a year later lol) is that what the embossing powder helps prevent? Also does the modge podge stay tacky at all?? I just love this idea and want to get it right lol. Thank you!!

    • sydneyp17

      April 30, 2020 at 11:28 pm Reply

      Yes! Exactly why you use the embossing powder. You also want to make sure the ink pad is not washable. Another way to do it is with acrylic paint. You don’t need the embossing powder for that. No, the mod podge will dry. I’m trying some fun new ideas next week too, stay tuned! : )

      • Saima

        May 22, 2020 at 5:04 pm Reply

        What’s the reason washable ink pad is not good? I’m having trouble finding rainbow ink pad that is not washable even online

        • sydneyp17

          June 2, 2020 at 4:35 pm Reply

          When I used an ink pad with washable ink, it didn’t turn out as beautiful. If you can’t find the right ink pad then I recommend using acrylic paint.

  • Nikole

    May 8, 2020 at 6:11 pm Reply

    So I used that ink pad but I just saw the embossing step. Can I do that step after the baking? Because not all the kids are here now ?

  • Jacklynn

    May 10, 2020 at 12:34 am Reply

    Hey guys,

    My kiddos and I did these as mothers day gifts for our family. I used acrylic paint but for some reason the paint cracked really bad to the point it started following off the paper after it was baked. Some of them came out great and others not so great. Any ideas on why that might have happened?

    • sydneyp17

      June 2, 2020 at 4:34 pm Reply

      Hi Liselle! You add the embossing powder right after you put the hand down with the ink on it. That way when you bake it it won’t smear.

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