Easy Mother's Day Pop-Up Card

Every time I open up a card or book and see that it has pop-ups, I feel a little happier. And Mother's Day is all about making moms happy. So here is a little tutorial on how to make an easy pop-up card with your toddler or preschooler - it really is easier than you think! This is a nice craft that even Daddies can do with their kids (hint hint). I also included some (optional) printable clipart that you can use to finish off the card, but you can easily use other craft supplies like tissue paper, stickers, etc. Just remember that whatever is inside the card should be relatively thin so that it can actually close.

Step 1:

Have your child create 2 paintings on a heavyweight type of paper. Then let the paintings dry completely.

Step 2:

Choose which painting will be seen on the outside of the card - fold in half with the painted part on the outside. (ours was the purple one) The other painting will be on the inside of the card - fold in half with the painted part on the inside. (ours was the greenish one) You now have 2 cards. You will place one inside the other as I show in the picture, but not yet - first we have to make the pop-outs in the middle.

 

 

Step 3:

Take the "inside" painting (the greenish one) and make 4 short cuts (about 1/3 of the width of the paper) along the folded edge. I drew 4 lines on the picture below to show you more clearly.

 

 

Then press in the little strips of paper so that they "pop" out from the inside of the card. Fold along the edges of the pop-out parts so that they retain their shape. You now have 2 pop-out parts but if you prefer you can just do 1 large pop-out in the middle by making 2 cuts instead of 4.

 

 

Step 4:

Put glue on the non-painted sides of the 2 cards and glue them together. Make sure you put a lot of glue around the edges and corners. You can then close the card and set it underneath a pile of books for 30 minutes to make sure it stays glued together nicely.

 

And that's it! We now have a pop-up card! Keep reading for the decorating instructions.

 

Step 5: Decorate!

 

Have your child decorate the outside of the card with whatever you have on hand, stickers, glitter, or you can use some of the free clipart I have. We decided to keep it simple and just glue a little heart that says "mom".

 

 

Step 6: Now that the outside is decorated we can glue the things that we want to pop-up on the inside. We chose two flowers from my clipart and glued them to the pieces that pop out.

 

 

 

Then we cut slits in the "grass" and glued it to the bottom of the flowers.

 

 

We called it "finished" after this because I really didn't want to cover too much of her beautiful paintings. If your child can write, they can use a sharpie or marker to write on top of the painting. Here is our finished card - inside and outside.

 

 

You can download the Free Clipart Here