It was my turn to teach our preschool co-op this week, and we wanted to do something special for Mother's day. I helped the kids make a portrait for their moms, and I love how they turned out. Here are a few tips if you'd like to do something similar.
1. Draw the initial circle for the head and lines for the neck yourself. (I know this seems kind of like cheating, but it helps the kids all start off on the same ground, and makes sure each portrait fill the frame.)
2. I had each kid draw first with a thin black pen, and color things in afterwards. Give the kids specific directions and have them draw the portrait step by step. For example, we started with the eyes. I drew a portrait too, so I could show them where to put each thing. If they were missing something like eyelashes or eyebrows, I would remind them. Then we moved on to the nose, mouth, hair, etc. I also printed a photo out of their moms, so they could see what her hair looks like and if she has earrings on, I think this helps kids remember little details.
3. Make a frame out of a cardboard box (an exacto knife is the best tool for the job). Then we taped our portraits to the back of the frames and added a little label where each kid wrote "Mom".
As an added bonus, we taped a Mother's Day Questionairre on the back, which you can download here (it prints two to a page). I think this is best suited for kids between the ages of 4 and 6, and I loved hearing the answers kids had for questions like "When my mom grows up, she wants to be ____________." or "I'm going to live with my mom until I ___________." Priceless!