May is by far my favorite month, and you may be thinking “Oh but Lindsey, that’s just because your birthday is in May.” But in all seriousness, I’ve always eagerly looked forward to May, even as a child. May is a month full of celebrations for all you non-birthday people out there too, young and old(er). There’s Mother’s Day, graduation days, the end of a school year, and of course those May flowers we were promised from all of spring’s dreary showers. Kick off a month of holiday fun these pretty May Day crafts for kids and adults!
Celebrate May Day
May Day is a celebration of the beauty of nature and international workers day, it falls on May 1st. It’s a great time to teach children the value of showing appreciation to those that work hard for them; or simply a fun way to celebrate friendship and the happiness the coming summer brings.
The holiday stems from folks back in the day celebrating the bountiful spring harvest. Later on in the early 19th century, the day took on a new meaning when the working class started a labour revolution, falling on the 1st of May, to protest for better working conditions. Traditionally on Mayday, you put together small May Day baskets or May Day bouquets with flowers and candy to give to friends, family, or people that you appreciate that work hard.
4 May Day Crafts To Do With Kids
To get you started with some May Day fun, I have compiled a list of a few adorable May Day crafts. You can do these with your children as gifts for others or even for your hard-working-nature-loving self 🙂
Tissue Flower Cards
I am a big supporter of hand written sentiments. These adorable flower cards from artfulkids.com are perfectly sweet and simple to make. They would be a perfect add-on to a May Day gift with a personalized note inside. These May Day crafts are simple enough for kids and cute enough for adults.
Tissue Paper Flowers
Bouquets are a lovely gesture on May Day but fresh flowers tend to be fairly pricey, and not the most sturdy of gifts. Theses tissue paper flowers are a fun and beautiful alternative to stuff in a May Day basket. All you need is tissue paper, tape, and floral stems or pipe cleaners (available at most craft stores). You can get the full tutorial here-> DIY tissue flowers
Flower Door Hanger Cone
These door knob hanging May baskets from tipjunkie.com are a super cute way to leave an unexpected surprise for someone on their front door. I grew up always looking forward to creating little mayday baskets in class and usually receiving them on our doorstep when coming home from school. The door hanging ensures that your gift wont get stepped on or blown away.
Lollipop May Day Basket Crafts
Flowers are a sweet gesture, but lollipops are even sweeter! These lollipop baskets from howshedoes.com are simply sophisticated for the older “children” who still enjoy receiving something fun to eat. These May Day basket crafts are fun to give or receive!
The children in my neighborhood had a tradition of dropping off baskets to the neighborhood, yes even strangers, ringing the doorbell, and running. Probably the nicest ding-dong-ditch you could ever receive. That was back home in Nebraska. Here in the South I get looked at a little cock-eyed when I even mention May Day. If people don’t commonly practice the holiday in your area, it’s definitely a tradition that could be fun to implement. Make sure of course, to show your children how to do so in a loving, and respectful way. This May Day, take advantage of this opportunity for connecting with people and showing them love by sharing May Day Crafts!
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Rita Spratlen says
These are wonderful ideas and so neat. I was watching the news and it seems there is always some sort of protest or riot going on. What ever happened to the Maypoles? I love the sweetness it is supposed to be!