St. Patrick’s Day
Since St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t always get the same amount of attention as other holidays, why not make placemats with your children and use it as a teachable moment?Come up with a few different ideas like drawing the face of a leprechaun or making a rainbow and a pot of gold at the end. Either have your children draw the picture onto paper or create a picture with felt. Look for felt, leather, yarn and other unique materials that can be added to each placemat, as having options gives your children an opportunity to get creative with their placemat. Once they have glued everything in place, you will need to place a sheet of contact paper over it to secure everything. Press firmly over the placemat to remove the bubbles that may be trapped. After doing so, turn it over and place another piece of contact paper over it to secure the placemat. Finally, trim the edges and you have a fun St. Patrick’s Day craft.
Easter
How about making a cute Easter bunny placemat for your table? Use some white felt and cut out the basic outline of the rabbit for your children. Then allow them to decorate the rabbit with wiggly eyes, pink ears, whiskers and some eggs. Your children will have a fun time making their own Easter bunny along with some eggs to go into his basket. This craft may last longer since you are making several different objects so younger children may not finish it.
Mother’s Day & Father’s Day
What parent doesn’t love to get a nice homemade gift from their child on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? Depending upon the age of your child, you can do something simple like their handprint or you can have your children do something a little more creative like making a picture collage or creating an entire drawing that reminds them of their Mom or Dad. Get out a bunch of different supplies for your children to brainstorm with like old magazines, pictures, wrapping paper, flowers, feathers and leaves. This way your child can start to think of some different things that they believe you would appreciate. Creating a placemat craft for a grandparent is also a wonderful gift on this fun holiday.
Halloween
There are so many themes and characters associated with Halloween that your children can easily make several different placemats. They can choose from a traditional placemat like a pumpkin or witches pot or they can get really ambitious and creative and create a haunted house, a vampire, Frankenstein, or other things. This is a fun holiday for children so give them a few ideas and then let them explore some of the different things they are thinking about to make a unique placemat.