Mother's Day Keepsake Box Craft

I go to my local supercenter in the hopes of buying chocolate at a discounted price the day after Valentine's Day.  Sometimes I can get small, heart shaped boxes of chocolates at 75% off the normal price.  Each box has about three pieces of chocolate.  I consume the chocolate and save the empty boxes for future repurposing.  

Recently I was going through a hodge-podge of craft materials and I came across a collection of heart shaped boxes that I had been saving.  This got me thinking about an inexpensive Mother's Day craft that children would enjoy making.  Mother's Day is three months away but the heart shaped boxes are a seasonal item.  They're only available at the stores a few weeks before Valentine's Day.  They're not as expensive as buying the heart shaped boxes at a craft shop.  Plus, there's the added bonus that they come with chocolate!  If you send notes to families requesting items such a empty oatmeal boxes, you can also add small, empty heart shaped boxes to your request list. 

I had some acrylic paint so I painted just the top surface of the boxes from my collection.  I allowed the paint to dry and added a second coat of paint.  I let the second coat of paint dry overnight.  Then I glued heart shaped gems on the same surface that I had painted.  I let the glued gems dry overnight.  Here's what the finished Mother's Day boxes look like:

First grade is the youngest grade that I would consider for this Mother's Day craft.  It takes coordination to glue the small gems on the surface of the box.  There's also a notification on the package of gems that says it's for ages six or older.  

There are three different sizes of gems in one package.  When children are creating collages with pieces of varying sizes, it's a good idea to instruct them to put the largest pieces on first, then the medium sized pieces, and finally use the smallest pieces are used to fill in the gaps.  Divide the various sized pieces equally among your students before having the first group work on the project.  If you skip this step, the first group of children will use all the big gem stones!

This Mother's Day gift idea is very affordable.  The children could make beaded necklaces to go inside the boxes, write a special note, or place a photo of themselves inside.  A great Mother's Day gift!

Materials:

1.  empty heart shaped cardboard boxes
2.  glue
3.  paintbrushes
4.  acrylic paint
5.  smocks
6.  newspaper to cover the tables

7.  one 600 count package of plastic crafting gems (This quantity is enough to decorate 16-18 boxes) - from Michael's

Lessons by Molly