Rose 'n' Salt Dough Finger Prints For Mother's Day

Precious little hands stay tiny for such a short while.  I am so in love with making a keepsake of this very special time, of those amazingly beautiful little fingers and palms.

Pink rose petals in this dough are to symbolize love and motherhood, plus they give the dough a very delicate fragrance.

pink rose petals

I did this simple little project both at home with my girls and at the preschool, making two different versions.  At home we made a big plaque with both my big girls hands pressed into the dough, their thumbs overlapping.  The kids at the preschool cut out hearts from the rosy salt dough and pressed their fingers into the dough.  Both versions are totally cute and precious!

~ Materials ~

This makes enough dough for 15 hearts about 2" by 3" and one 8" by 6" plaque.  You can cut the recipe it in half if you want!

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 cups of salt
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water, rose tea or rose-water for fragrance
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of fluffy pink rose petals
• straw
• heart-shaped cookie cutter, optional
• ribbons
• sharpie marker, optional

~ Instructions ~

• Blend together the flour, salt,  cream of tartar and rose petals.  

• Next add the water a little bit at a time until you get a nice doughy consistency that holds together but is not sticky.  I did this all in my Kitchen Aid the night before going into the preschool and it was easy!  You could certainly mix this up with the kids too, which I am sure they would enjoy.  

• At this point you are ready to make your shapes and prints, or you can refrigerate the dough in an air tight bag if, like me, you won't be using it until the next day.  

• Roll or press the dough out.

dough all pressed out

• Either shape the dough to desired shape or cut out heart shapes with your cookie cutter.

• Press the child's hand into the dough.  You may need to talk with them about spreading their fingers apart.  Most of the kids I worked with instinctively placed their hand on the dough with their fingers all held together.  Also you may need to help them press their fingers into the dough.

imprinting

• Use the straw to poke a little hole for hanging.

• Dry these in the oven at a low temp for a couple of hours.  Be sure to keep a close eye on them and flip them half way through the drying process.  Or you can let them air dry for a couple of days.

• Use the sharpie to write the child's name and their age or the date on the back of the heart/plaque and add a pretty ribbon for hanging.

fingers

You could also paint these with modge podge to preserve them.  Or you could let the kiddos paint them to add a nice little personal touch.  Because we used the roses we aren't going to paint ours so we can see and smell the roses!

A little poem to go with this sweet gift would be a lovely addition.  I found all a wonderful collection of poems on Can Teach.  Most of them make me tear up thinking about my own little ones growing up so very fast!

More Ideas for Mother's Day Gifts ~

Some Sweet Foot Lovin' For Mother's Day

When I was researching this project I found a lot of wonderful salt dough recipes to choose from.  Here are two that I used the most for inspiration:

Create, Craft, Love and eHow Mom

Are you making gifts for Mother's Day this year?

Happy Mother's Day!

Shared On:  Eco-Kid's Tuesday, Kid's Get Crafty, Friday's Nature Table, Kid's Activity Blog, The Weekly Kid's Co-op

Violet Equinox

A Children's Solstice Celebration

We have a lush happy little patch of violets (Viola odorata) outside at the preschool.  I noticed them last week quietly poking their deep purple heads through the soil and smiling with a delightful fragrance.  I knew that we had to get outside and be with the violets.  Violet are often one of the first flowers to grace us as the sun makes its way closer to us each spring and they are truly a treasure to behold.  So what better way to celebrate this first day of spring than by smelling, harvesting and eating violets?  Hence today we made our way to the violet patch.

I taught the kids a little song my teacher taught me, a song for the violets.  A song to say we are here and we are friends.  To say thank you to the violets for giving away to us.  And we marched out to the patch singing and excited!

The kids did a wonderful job being careful with the plants and picking just the flowers.

As we all tried the flowers it was delightful to watch little faces light up with the amazing taste of violets.

The children loved them.  We talked about how the violet's are good for us and they taste good too!

What a treat!

After gathering a good amount we took the violets inside, washed and dried them.  We put them in a jar.

Then we covered them with agave.  I usually make violet honey but the preschool is vegan so we are trying using agave this year.  We will see how it goes!  So far so good.  I plan to keep the violets infusing in the agave for a good week or so.  Then the agave and violets too will both go into a jars, one for each child to take home and enjoy!

We also read Mother Earth and Her Children by Sibylle Von Olfers.  This is an amazingly beautiful book about the coming of spring.  It is based off a gorgeous quilt made by Sieglinde Schoen-Smith.  There is a little Violet child in the book and we had fun hunting for her and her violet plant.  The kids were able to recognized the flower and the leaves in the book!

Click here to learn more about the amazing little violet

How are you celebrating spring?  It is such a wonderful time of year, so full of energy and life!

Blessings for a beautiful spring!

Shared On: Friday's Nature Table, Multicultural Kids