Did you know that Grandparent’s Day is coming up on September 9th? Whether you have celebrated it in the past or it has gone by unnoticed, this is a perfect time for you and your kids to celebrate the grandparents in your life.
The problem is, how do you celebrate them? Grandparents can be impossible to buy for. So, I wanted to come up with a couple of things that were thoughtful to give to our grandparents, but also still looked good in their our grandparents homes. There’s nothing wrong with primary or neon-colored crafts, but if you are anything like me, you want to gift something that a grandparent will actually keep.
Our first grandparent gift is for plant lovers.
The Painted Pot
This project can be customized for any age! My 2-year0old loved it, and I know middle schoolers who loved it. I really don’t think there is an age you grow out of painting.
STEP ONE: Instead of giving my son Miles red, blue, and green paint and letting him turn it into brown paint we need to talk about mixing colors. Most of you probably already know this, but for those of you that don’t, let’s take it back to color theory 101. Decide what colors you want by thinking of the kinds of colors your child’s grandparents already have in their home. If you want to make something more muted, a slate blue instead of a primary blue, add grey. If you want it lighter add white. If you want colors like navy add a tiny bit of purple and black to primary blue. Mix the colors on a palette or in plastic cups. Have a paintbrush dedicated to each color
I did a sage green (white, grey, green), Slate blue (blue, grey, touch of green), and white, because I knew this would go with all the farmhouse decor that our favorite Grandmother’s have!
STEP TWO: Let your kid paint their new wooden pot with the colors you mixed for them. There are no rules (unless your 2 year old is like mine, and you have to tell them not to eat the paint.)
STEP THREE: After the pot dries paint a thin coat of the gloss varnish over the paint.
STEP FOUR: Fill with dirt, and add a cute succulent or a plant that is not high maintenance.
Here are all of the items you need for this project: You may already have a lot of these items but here are links to make it easy if you don’t.
Wooden Planter (with zinc liner)
Washable Paint
Varnish
Paintbrushes
Succulent or Plant
The Floral Handprint
This second project is very simple and to make it even easier for you we are giving you a FREE download! You can also use the paint in the list above for this project.
STEP ONE: Download the free design
STEP TWO: With washable paint, mix a quarter size of paint to the color of your liking for a hand print.
STEP THREE: Cover your little one’s hand with paint and stamp their hand in the middle of the design! You can be done at this point if you want! The floral frame does not have to be painted or colored and still works in a frame with nothing else added. Note: You can cut the picture in to a square or leave it on a regular size piece of paper.
STEP FOUR: (Optional) Depending on the age of your child, you may want to have them color in the floral design.
STEP FIVE: Frame the handprint!
