Mother's Day Plates

Good Evening, Teacher Friends!! Kerri here...


I have been making this decoupaged Mother's Day plate for the last few years with my kiddos, and let me tell you, it is SUPER cheap ($1 a kid!) and SUPER CUTE! I love it so much that I made my own daughter make ME one 2 years ago. I am not ashamed to admit it!! :)

I buy the plates at IKEA for $1 each. I am sure you can find similar plates at other places if you don't have IKEA near you. They are clear glass and 9.5 inches in diameter. Next, I have my kids write "I Love Mom This Much!" in sharpie on plain white paper and then draw themselves with their hands outstretched, as well as write their name and the year. When I taught Kinder, I bubble cut the words and their drawings out for them, but I think in First they can handle bubble cutting themselves (MAYBE?? I HOPE!)

Next, and here is the trickier part, you have to Mod Podge the words and their drawings onto the back of the plate facedown so the words show through to the front, and you have to glue the words BACKWARDS so they show up the right way. CONFUSING?? I agree. I always screw one up, every single year. But then I figure it out and the rest are perfect. There is NO WAY your kiddos can do this step...it is very tricky. Time consuming? Sort of. But totally worth it.


Then, the kids mod podge squares of tissue paper onto the back of the plate, over the words and their drawing. I have them use a sponge brush and put mod podge onto the plate, then place the tissue paper over that and mod podge again. It is important that they TAP the sponge brush onto the tissue paper or the tissue paper will come right off. Usually, I walk around during this part with my own sponge brush and help them make sure the entire plate is covered with tissue paper and all covered with the mod podge. I usually let them choose from different complimentary colors, like purple and pink, or blue and green. 

Has everyone heard of Mod Podge? It is the most AMAZING product ever. I buy the glossy Mod Podge at Michaels and it is like the most FANTASTIC GLUE/SEALER EVER! It works on EVERYTHING...truly fantastic!


After the back of the plates are covered with the tissue paper and mod podge, you let them dry overnight and the next day they will be hard and shiny and perfectly sealed. Not sealed as in, I will eat my dinner on this plate, but sealed so that the tissue paper never comes off. I have had parents come back to me years later, STILL talking about the beautiful plate.

And...it looks sooo pretty sitting on my table!! Hope you like it!