Mother’s Day Bleeding Crepe Paper Artworks

There are two weeks until Mother’s Day in Australia so that means the preparation has begun! I thought it would be a great idea to do artworks for our gifts this year as children’s artworks are always such a special keepsake for Mothers. I have done this type of bleeding crepe paper artwork before when my students created self portraits and they turned out beautifully, so I thought this style of artwork would be perfect for Mother’s Day gifts. This blog entry will show you step by step what to do to create your own beautiful Mother’s Day artworks with your littles ones and hopefully answer any questions you have.

You will need:

• Crepe paper (different colours, cut into squares)
• Spray bottles (filled with water)
• Cardboard paper (A4, 200gsm)
• Text boxes for ‘I love my Mum’ sign and the drawing of student and Mum
• Black marker pens
• Glue
• Protective covers for your table (the bleeding crepe paper can stain)

Step 1: Cut your crepe paper into squares. I used crepe paper, rather than tissue paper, as this material ‘bleeds’ better when applied with water.

Step 2: Invite students to cover their background page in crepe paper squares and spray with water. I usually spray a bit of water on first to make them stick to the page better. Spray as necessary throughout the process to create a bit of stickiness. Be careful not to overly spray as too much water on the page will make it rip. I encourage children to place one square at a time, to ensure each piece is being sticked down. For the best effect, try and cover most of the page with crepe paper, do not leave too many white spaces. Make sure each piece is wet.

Step 3: Put the finished background artworks somewhere to dry. They will dry quickly in the sun but the pieces will blow away easily once they dry if it is windy. Ideally, dry your backgrounds in a tray if you want to dry them in the sun (quickest way). Alternatively, dry them inside (which is what I did) and they dried overnight.

Step 4: Once the backgrounds have dried, the crepe paper will come off easily by shaking them off/removing them with your hand. I keep the crepe paper for other art experiences because they are so beautiful and its a great way to recycle and reuse items in the classroom!

Before and after:

Step 5: Now that the colourful backgrounds are finished, it is time to start working on the writing and drawing. I made some simple text boxes on Word to use for writing ‘I love my Mum’ and for students to draw a picture of them and their Mums. Of course, this part of the activity could be altered if students need to make their presents for someone different like a Grandma, Aunty etc. I made the text boxes big enough to write and draw, but not so big that it would cover too much of our beautiful backgrounds. We used black permanent markers for our artworks so they would contrast against the colourful backgrounds.

Step 6: Cut around the drawings and writing and use glue to attach to the colourful backgrounds. How gorgeous do they look all put together?!

Step 7: Because these artworks are Mother’s Day gifts, I laminated them so they will last for years to come! The colours seem to pop even more after being laminated which is a bonus! I hope all of our Mums love this gift :)

This experience was carried out with 4–5 year olds. Adult supervision is recommended at all times, particularly when engaging with water in the spray bottles.