Helping young children learn to celebrate mom can be an incredibly powerful yet sweet gesture. It can also be really overwhelming. While Pinterest might make us all think we can pull off even the toughest of DIY projects, here’s a list of some easy kid-friendly crafts for mother’s day and some tips to keep the kiddos engaged the whole way through crafting. Tip: Make an example. Especially if you have young children, start by making the craft yourself. This will give the child something to copy, and encourage creativity within the craft, as opposed to frustration over how to create it. 1. Create a Kiddo Flower Using pre-cut flower patterns, have your child paste a photo of their face inside of a cupcake paper. Glue the cupcake paper to the flower pattern and then onto a Popsicle stick. Let the kids have some fun with markers and add some of their own designs to the flowers. These look great on the refrigerator with a small magnet on the back. Tip: Make sure you pick a craft that is age appropriate. If your children are still very young, they don’t have the fine motor skills to do intricate crafts. Choose something that they’re capable of doing on their own, and without losing patience. Even if the craft seems watered down and ordinary, the fact that your child was able to create it on their own will make them very excited to give it to mom and help you all keep your sanity. As a rule of thumb, the craft should not take longer than twice your child’s age to complete. So a five-year-old child should be able to complete the craft in 10 minutes or less. 2. Egg Carton Carnations Carnations are a classic Mother’s Day gift. Give them a fun twist and let the kids design their own egg carton carnations. Take an old egg container and cut it into thirds. Then let your child go wild with painting the four section pieces. Paste a colored, paper straw to the back to create brightly colored flower swizzles. 3. Fingerprint Lightning Bugs This one requires a little prep work, but the younger kids will love it. Using some construction paper and scissors, make a cut out of a mason jar. You’ll want to use a bingo dabber or small, oval-shaped cutouts to create yellow spots on the mason jar cut out. Then just let your child use their fingerprint to create “lightning bugs” onto the paper, giving it the appearance of lightning bugs in a jar. Write mom a cute little note from the kids to go along with their finger paint jar. Tip: Remember that art is about the process, not the product. If your child wants to color an orange tree instead of a green one, let them. There is no right or wrong, and mom won’t love a blue cat less than a black one. 4. Tissue Paper Vase Have children tear up tissue paper into small pieces. Then use an artist’s paintbrush to “paint” a vase with Elmer’s glue. Let your child apply the torn up tissue paper directly onto the vase however they like. Allow it to dry and the end result is a homemade vase that looks like stained glass. This can be a great compliment to the flower crafts too! 5. Make Your Own Perfume Select some essential oils that work well with vanilla. Using small plastic bottles and a dropper have the kids poor some vanilla into the bottle along with a few drops of their favorite oil combination. For some extra fun, grab some labels and let the kids design and name their perfume for mom.