Mother’s Day Celebration With Preschoolers

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Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and I would like to offer you ideas and free printables for a fun and educational Mother’s Day Celebration with your preschoolers. Since I love to use any theme to tie all domains for a comprehensive learning process, here are some ideas for all of them. These activities could be done in the classroom or at home.

Circle Time

Circle Time is a very important part of any preschool day, not just because children learn social skills like respecting each other space as a large group, but also because you can introduce the theme, review letters, numbers, etc., and allow a conversation period where children can express their ideas and opinions.

I will suggest preparing a different activity to do during circle time, to take advantage of this important part of the day. These are some ideas you can use for your Mother’s Day Celebration:

Read a book

One way to introduce your theme is by reading a Mother’s Day-related book such as “Are You My Mother” by P.D. Eastman. Then you can start a conversation by asking questions such as:

Who wants to tell me the name of your mom?
Can you describe your mom?
Do you have a special name for your mom?
What do you love most about your mom?
What is your mom’s favorite meal or dessert?
Do you have a grandmother?
What is her name?

Let the children talk about their mothers and grandmothers. This is a great activity to encourage conversation, language development, and social skills.

Extension activities: you can make a graph with the attributes of your children’s mothers using the color of their hair and eyes, for example.

Another thing you can do is ask the children what is their mother’s name, write it on a piece of chart paper, and use it to review the beginning letter and sound of each name, that way you can tie literacy to the activity.

Do a Group Story

After introducing the Mother’s Day theme for the week, you can invite them to write a group story. First, make you have a piece of chart paper to take dictation of the children’s sentences, as they start developing the story.

You can start with a line like: “When day a mom went to…”. Or “Once upon a time, there was a mom who….”. Or “My mom likes to…”. You get the idea. From there, just let children take turns telling you a sentence they want to add to the story, while you write the sentences in their own words. Do not change anything. Have them come up with a title for their story.

Extension activity: When the story is finished, type it, print it, and divide it into sentences. Provide sheets of paper cut in half, and have some children paste each sentence on one of the pages, some of them illustrate those pages and the rest of the group create a cover for the story. When all the pages are dry, make copies and send a copy of the book home to each of the families. Laminate the original to keep it in the library.

Present a Flower

Bring different real or silk flowers to circle time. Talk about Mother’s Day and how we sometimes give flowers to our mothers that day. Ask the children if they know which is their mother’s favorite flower, to encourage a conversation. Then you can introduce one of the fingerplays below:

Mother’s Day Fingerplay

I’ll pick some flowers for my Mom.
To make a nice bouquet (pick flowers)
I’ll give her a smile (smile)
And say Happy Mother’s Day.

Five Flower Baskets
Five flower baskets sitting on the floor.
One will go to………………..’s mom,
Four flower baskets pretty as can be.
One will go to ……………….’s mom,
Then there will be three.
Three flower baskets with flowers in red and blue.
One will go to………………..’s mom,
Then there will be two.
Two flower baskets, bright as the sun.
One will go to………………..’s mom,
Then there will be one. One
flower basket, oh, it’s sure to go. To
your very own mother, who is the Nicest one you know.

Extension: you can follow up this activity by having the children make a bouquet of coffee filter flowers as an art project and gift for their moms. (See the instructions below).

Literacy

There are very important skills children can develop through literacy. Some of those are:

• Listening to a story
• To teach letters, letter sounds, and beginning sounds.
• Recognizing letters and words.
• Using pictures to develop pre-reading skills
• Using letters or words to develop pre-writing skills.

Mama’s Portraits

Read the story “Is Your Mama a Llama?” By Deborah Guarino. This book uses riddle rhymes and six lovable baby animals to help Lloyd the llama discover just what kind of animal his mama is. Deborah Guarino’s whimsical verse and Steven Kellogg’s endearing illustrations will charm and amuse every child who loves riddles, animals, and good fun! After reading the story, ask the children to talk about what their “mamas” look like and what makes them special.

Extension: have them draw their mama’s portraits. To set up the activity you will need to provide the children with crayons, markers, colored pencils, and a printable of a frame, using one of the FREE printables I created for you.

This resource comes with seven different portraits, four with the title “My Mother Is…” and three without the title, which you can find below. Just click on the bottom for an immediate download.

Encourage the children to write any words they used to describe their mamas, even using invented spelling. After they are finished you can take dictation of their descriptions and write them on their printable.

Extension: you can use the story to introduce words, beginning letters, and/or sounds. Another thing you can do is introduce or review rhyming words using words from the story, such as a dog (pug, frog, log); bear (hair, fair, chair); cat (hat, cat, pat); seal (meal, deal, peel); fish (dish, Trish, squish); and skunk (bunk, trunk, junk).

Mother’s Day Word Wall Cards

These Mother’s Day Celebrations Word Wall Cards can be used as a small group activity, during circle time, as a take-home practice, and quiet area option. They just need to be printed on white cardstock and laminated to make them last longer.

Place them on your wall where the preschoolers can see them during the entire month. You can add them to your writing center, where the children can copy them, trace the words on top, or match the letters with plastic, wooden, or foam ones.

Extension Activities:

To extend this activity you can use the word wall cards to:

Introduce the name or sound of the beginning letter of each word.
As a spelling activity.
As a matching activity, where the students can match the picture with the written word.

I’ve created two sets, one in English and one in Spanish, and both include two pages with 4 words each, for a total of 8 vocabulary words. They are yours for FREE by just clicking on the links below.

Library Ideas

Gather fiction and non-fiction books about Spring, bugs, baby animals, plants, flowers, weather, and others to support the theme. There are tons of beautiful ones you can use, which could be found at your local library, in a used bookstore, or on Amazon. These are just some of my favorites. My affiliate links embedded in the titles can take you directly the the right page.

“Llama Llama Mother’s Day Present” by Anna Dewdney talks about how Llama Llama is determined to make Mother’s Day as special as possible for his mama.

“The Night Before Mother’s Day” by Natasha Wing. It’s the night before Mother’s Day, and Dad and the kids are determined to show Mom just how much they love her. They whip up a cake from scratch, and offer a special coupon for a day at the spa, right in their kitchen! Kids and moms will love reading this sweet story aloud together for a fun way to celebrate Mother’s Day.

“Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman, is the story of a baby bird who goes in search of his mother, but not knowing what she looks like makes it a challenge. The timeless message of the bond between mother and child makes this precious book a treasure.

“Clifford’s Happy Mother’s Day” by Norman Bridwell talks about how Emily Elizabeth is gathering together some surprises for her mom: candy, flowers, and a card she’ll make herself for Mother’s Day, and how Clifford accidentally knocks over the ink and tracks pawprints over the card and Emily’s sweater!

“T. Rex and the Mother’s Day Hug” by Lois G. Grambling. Mother’s Day is here, and T. Rex wants to plan something extra special for his mama. He wants to do something instead of just giving something. T. Rex is sure he has a perfect gift idea, but will Mama Rex love it, too?

Science

I love Science. I found it interesting and fun and keeps preschoolers engaged. Unfortunately, many preschool teachers and parents feel a little intimidated by it, but it is as important as Literacy and Math. Here are a couple of easy activities you can do for Mother’s Day Celebration, from Preschool Plan It.

Footprint Stepping Stones!

Materials: a bag of cement, water, small toys (little bugs, toy cars, frogs, fish, butterflies, etc.), and a 9″ round cake pan (disposable).

Mix cement as instructed.
Pour into the round pans. Let sit until it is firm enough for a print to stay in it.
Press the child’s foot into it (not too hard though!)
Trace the child’s initials and date into it.
The child presses some small toys around the footprint.
Let set. Most cement needs to be “cured” by covering it with water. Read directions and do this.
Let set until hard (a few days) and then remove the stones from the pans.

They are great stones for a home garden, on a deck, end of a driveway!

Heart-Shaped Grass!

Have the children fill a planting pot with potting soil until just about full. Place a heart-shaped cookie cutter on the soil. Cover the inside of the cookie cutter with a thin layer of grass seeds. Cover the seeds with more soil, water the pot, and remove the cookie cutter. The grass will grow into a heart shape!

Extension: Before planting, have the children decorate the outside of the pot with markers, stickers, etc., and then glue a picture of the child to the pot. Add your favorite Mother’s Day poem to a heart-shaped paper. Hole punch the heart and tie around the pot with ribbon!

Math

Since everything is connected to Math, we must help our preschoolers establish a base for the mathematical operations they will learn in the future. Here are a couple of easy activities you can do with your children, during the Mother’s Day celebration.

Family Members Graft

During circle time invite the children to say how many family members are in their family (dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers). Children can help you count how many of each there are. Then you can make a graft with their answers.

Mother’s Day Math Puzzles

These FREE puzzles for Mother’s Day Celebration are great to strengthen the children’s number recognition, counting, seriation knowledge, concentration, one-to-one correspondence, and set creation skills. You can use these in the Math or manipulatives centers, as a small group activity, take-home game, or quiet area option.

If your preschoolers are familiar with different number seriations, they are probably going to be able to work independently. However, new students or children who are having difficulties counting or recognizing numbers may need your guidance.

Print each page using white cardstock. Then cut out each strip and laminate them to protect them and make them last longer. At the end of May, you can put your puzzles in small Ziploc bags, and store them in a box for the following year, so you can have them ready for many Mother’s Days in the future.

I recommend using these activities individually. That way you can monitor and take notes about what type of seriation each of your preschoolers know, to be able to build upon that and help the ones that don’t recognize all of them.

Extension Activities

To give your preschoolers more options, you can use these Math puzzles for other uses. Some of the activities that I can think of are:

Provide copies of the pages and have your preschoolers cut out the strips and glue them on a piece of construction or white paper.
Have the children trace or copy the numbers.
Match each number with magnetic plastic numbers or the same amount of objects.
Draw the pictures.

This printable includes 10 different puzzles with different numeral seriations, and you can download it by just clicking on the link below.

Social Studies

Even when preschoolers might not have the concept or understand that there are other countries outside the United States, it is good to talk to them about other cultures to give them an overall idea about the world around them. Mother’s Day is a good opportunity to do just that, because, unlike Thanksgiving and the 4^th of July which are purely American holidays, Mother’s Day is celebrated in other countries as well, but could be done a little differently than what we do here in America.

Keep it simple, but talk to your children a little bit about those differences. I will not recommend including all the countries I mention below, but I will suggest taking into consideration the countries that your children come from. You can even invite some of your children’s mothers from other cultures to come and talk to them about their traditions for Mother’s Day.

Australia

They celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May like in America, and traditionally they give out flowers like carnations, but they especially give Chrysanthemums, since mothers are called Mum in Australia. Many organizations also use the opportunity to raise money for women’s causes.

Brazil

They celebrate this special day on the second Sunday in May and they like to gather in church and have children perform for their mothers, finishing up with barbecues where the entire family gets together. Mother’s Day is also the second-most commercial holiday after Christmas.

China

Chinese people are very traditional and this celebration is fairly new for them since it is imported and not part of their culture. They celebrate the day with gifts and festivities.

Dominican Republic

One of the biggest islands in the Caribbean (and my own country), celebrates Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of May. We normally give cards, flowers, and presents to our mothers, aunts, and grandmothers, and take them out for a nice lunch or dinner. It is a family celebration.

Egypt

It is not an official holiday, but they use March 21, the first day of spring to celebrate Mother’s Day by giving gifts and celebrating, nonetheless.

Ethiopia

Mother’s Day is part of the Antrosht festival dedicated to mothers, and it is celebrated at the end of the fall rainy season. Family members come back home and have a large feast, that includes singing and dancing. What I found interesting in this particular celebration is that, traditionally, the components of the feast are specifically divided between daughters and sons. In Ethiopia, daughters bring vegetables, butter, spices, and cheese, while sons bring different types of meat, including lamb or bull.

France

They also celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of May, but sometimes it is pushed back a week when overlaps Pentecost celebration. They also celebrate Mother’s Day with cards, flowers, and family dinners, and normally is a day when moms relax and their children do the chores.

Germany

In this country, Mother’s Day is called Muttertag and takes place on the second Sunday in May, or the first one if it falls on Pentecost. They are big in giving cards, they award medals in gold, silver, or bronze based on how many children they have. Germans also give gifts and flowers and have family meals.

India

This country is very culturally diverse, and the celebrations may vary according to their traditions, but everybody celebrates the love that mothers have to offer and the honor they deserve for all they do for their families. Mother’s Day is a new and imported holiday, which is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, giving flowers, cards, and gifts to moms, but what is really traditional for Hindus is the 10-day celebration of their goddess Durga, or Divine Mother in October, which is called Durga Puja. This celebration includes gifts given to friends and family, as well as feasts.

Japan

Mothers are revered in Japanese culture, and Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, showing their mothers gifts, especially flowers such as carnations, which represent mothers’ gentle strength. On this day children take over the household chores, draw their mothers in school as we do, and have a special family meal.

Mexico

Mexico takes Mother’s Day very seriously. Flowers are the number one gift, but they also celebrate with music, food, parties, and a morning serenade with mariachi singers, using one of the most traditional songs, “Las Mañanitas”.

Peru

Peru also celebrates Mother’s Day second Sunday of May with handmade gifts, chocolates, and family meals, but the indigenous Andean population, however, also celebrates the gifts of Mother Earth or Pachamama, their beloved ancient mythological goddess, in early August. According to the Andean people, this goddess is the cause of earthquakes and a bringer of fertility.

United Kingdom

Traditionally, the U.K. celebrates Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent. This day families go to church together to worship the Virgin Mary. Normally, on this day children give flowers to their mothers and bake special cakes called Mothering Cakes. In recent years with the importation of Hallmark cards, the U.K. celebrates like the American people, giving flowers, gifts, and cards to their mothers, and celebrating family meals.

Russia

When Russia was still the Soviet Union, they honored mothers on March 8^th, International Women’s Day, when women and gender equality are honored. After 1998, when the Soviet Union disappeared, Russia started celebrating Mother’s Day on the last Sunday of November. Nevertheless, Russian people mainly give gifts to mothers in March still.

Serbia

This country celebrates their mothers and the spirit of the family for three days in December, mixed up with Children’s Day and Father’s Day, each holiday celebrated on consecutive Sundays, with curious traditions. The first Sunday is Children’s Day. Children are tied up and they stay like that until they agree to behave. The second Sunday is Mother’s Day, and the mothers are also tied up and stay like that until they supply small gifts and treats to their children. Finally, the last Sunday is Father’s Day. Fathers are also tied up with rope until they provide Christmas gifts to their families. After all, this is done, everybody celebrates with big feasts.

Thailand

The holiday has two intentions, celebrate Mother’s Day and honor Queen Sirikit’s birthday on August 12, with special ceremonies and parades. As a tradition, they mainly give jasmine to mothers.

Crafts

Every mom will adore a craft done as a gift by her little preschooler during celebrations Mother’s Day Celebration. I know I treasured every single one of those little gifts, no matter how ugly they turned out (don’t tell my children I said that!). These two ideas are always a big success.

Teapot Card

This is one of my favorite crafts for preschoolers. It is effortless to make and the moms seem to like it.

The children decorate the teapot template any way they like using crayons or markers. Then is cut out and pasted into a folded sheet of colored cardstock or construction paper. Since preschoolers cannot write yet, you can cut out a little Mother’s Day poem, they can sign their names, and add a bag of tea inside.

The bag of tea doesn’t have to have a label, because it’s just to make the card more special, but you can send the rest of the teabag box in a special wrapping paper decorated by each child as a gift.

Here are some examples of poems you can use, from unknown authors:

A cup of tea to say thank you
For all the things you’ve done
And wishes that the day will bring
Your happiness and fun.
Happy Mother’s Day.

*****************************************

I’m not always just perfect,
Even though I try.
Sometimes when I’m not so great,
You give a little sigh!

On days like that, I wish
I could give you cause to smile
And have you put your feet up,
To rest a little while.

So the next time you’re tired,
And it’s because of me,
Please sit down and relax for a while,
And have a cup of tea!

*****************************************

Here’s a gift for Mother’s Day:
With this gift, I’m trying to say
Thanks for all you do for me,
Relax and have a cup of tea!

I’ve created a FREE printable that contains two different teapots (two per page) and four pages with different poems, to offer you a variety and the opportunity to choose your favorite.

Flower Pot

This is another type of craft I’ve done with my preschoolers, and is fairly inexpensive, especially if you buy the clay pots at Dollar Tree.

Offer the children different colors of tempera paint. Have them paint the outside of a clay flower pot. When the pot dries, present to them a selection of stickers, foam pieces, gems, tissue paper squares, and ribbon, and have them decorate the outside of the pots in any way want. When dry, the children can put some soil in their pots, and plant a small flower plant if they want. Finish the project helping them tie a ribbon of their color choice outside the pot, and put it inside a gift bag with a handmade card. A perfect Mother’s Day gift!

Mother’s Day Coffee Filter Flowers

What woman doesn’t like flowers, right? It’s always nice to receive them, but, as a mom, I can say that no flower was more beautiful than the ones my children made for me. One of the easiest ways to have your preschoolers make a flower or a bouquet is by using coffee Filters.

First, you need to dilute different colors of tempera paint with a little bit of water. Then the children use eye droppers, to pick their favorite colors of paint (could be just one or more) and then drop water on them. The diluted paint will spread through the filter, turning the combined colors into a different one…they look beautiful!

Let the flowers dry well before having your children fold the filters in thirds or fourths to make a flower shape. Finally, they have to pinch the bottom of each flower, place a green pipe cleaner in it to make a stem, and secure it with a piece of floral tape. As a final touch, the children can wrap the bouquet in a piece of tissue paper with a bow. I can guarantee their moms will LOVE this bouquet!

Music and Movement

One of the activities children love the most is music and movement. It is excellent to help them develop their gross muscles, social skills, and a love for music in general. I found this website, childfun.com, which has a lot of songs, poems, and fingerplays, and I wanted to include them here, to give you plenty of ideas to use.

Mother’s Day Songs

We Love Mothers (Sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques”)
We love mothers.
We love mothers.
Yes, we do; yes we do.
Mothers are for hugging (hugging self)
Mothers are for kissing (blow kiss)
We love you; yes, we do.
Thank you, Mother.
Thank you, Mother.
For your love, for your love.
Mothers are for hugging, (hug self)
Mothers are for kissing (blow kiss)
We love you; yes, we do.

Mother’s Day (Sung to the tune of “This Old Man”)
Mother’s Day,
Mother’s Day
It is a very special day.
Here’s a great big hug
And lots of kisses too.
Each one says that I love you!

I Love My Mommy (Sing to the tune of “Up on the Housetop”)
I love my mommy, Yessiree!
She is very good to me!
She makes me cookies and yummy treats,
That’s my mom and she’s real neat!
Oh, oh, oh, who wouldn’t know,
Oh, oh, oh, who wouldn’t know,
I love my mommy and she loves me,
That’s the way it’s supposed to be!

I love my mommy, Yessiree!
She is very good to me!
She makes me cookies and yummy treats,
That’s my mom and she’s really neat!
Oh, oh, oh, who wouldn’t know,
Oh, oh, oh, who wouldn’t know,
I love my mommy and she loves me,
That’s the way it’s supposed to be!

Five Pretty Mommies (Sing to the tune of “Five Little Ducks”)
Five pretty mommies, I once knew,
Fat ones, skinny ones, tall ones, too,
But the one in the middle that belongs to me…
I love her and she loves me!
Down to the grocery, we did go,
Wibble – wobble, wibble – wobble, to and fro,
But the one in the middle that belongs to me,
I love her and she loves me!

I Love You Mommy (Sung to the tune of “You are my sunshine”)
I love you, Mommy
My dearest mommy
You make me happy
When I am sad
I want to tell you
I really love you!
When I’m with you
I am so glad!

Mother My Dear (Sung to the tune of Rock-A-Bye Baby)
Mother my darling
Mother my dear
I love you, I love you
Each day of the year
You are so sweet
And you are so kind
And I am so glad-ad
That you are mine

Mommy (Sung to the tune of Bingo)
I love her and she loves me,
And Mommy is her name-o,
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
M-O-M-M-Y
And Mommy is her name-O

On Mother’s Day (Sung to the tune of O’ Christmas Tree)
On Mother’s Day
On Mother’s Day
Oh how I love you, Mom…
On Mother’s Day
On Mother’s Day
Oh, how I love you, Mom…
You give me joy and happiness
I give you love – a hug and kiss
On Mother’s Day
On Mother’s Day
Oh how I love you, Mom

When I was Very Small
Sometimes I might upset you
Just because I’m small
By leaving fingerprints of mine
On a table, chair, or wall.
But every day I grow a bit
And I’ll be big one day
When all my tiny fingerprints
Have long been cleaned away
So keep these prints of my two hands
To help you to recall
Just how big my fingers were
That time when I was small.

These Little Hands
These little hands can give a hug
Pat-a-cake or throw a ball
They put smudges on the wall
Because I’m only just so tall
They love to clap or hold your hand
Whenever you can play
But when I’m grown and far away
These little hands with you will stay

Handprint Poem
Make a handprint to go with this poem:
I miss you when we’re not together
I’m growing up so fast
See how big I’ve gotten
Since you saw me last?
As I grow, I’ll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You’ll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon this handprint plaque
That’s hanging on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
When I was very small

Inspired by this last poem, I wanted to create another FREE printable for you to use. I know handprints might be considered too simple for preschoolers, but I thought to offer you different poems for you to use, in case you wanted to use this idea as a Mother’s Day gift from your children to their moms.

Sensory Activity

We should never forget about sensory activities. They are important to develop the nerve connections in the brain, which will develop the children’s ability to complete learning tasks, such as language development, fine and gross motor skills, problem-solving, cognitive growth, and social interaction.

On this occasion, I wanted to offer you an idea of a sensory activity that is a little different than the typical sand and water activities, especially because we are in the Spring season, and children can help their mothers in their gardens.

Planting Flowers

Have the children choose a mini plant, take it out of the container that it comes in, and replant it in the pot or flower bed. Show them how to press the soil to avoid air bubbles. Then have them wet their plants.

This could be a great Science/Math activity if you follow up by having the children draw the changes in their plants as they grow and measuring them to see how much they have grown.

Dramatic Play

Think about the occupation of your preschoolers’ mothers, and add items that they can use to pretend to be their mothers, such as purses, shoes, necklaces, glasses, dishes, mirrors, makeup, dresses, scarves, wigs, aprons, baby dolls, diapers, doctor’s set, gardening tools, dishes, broom and dustpan, and any other item you might think about.

Writing Area

Preschoolers must develop pre-writing skills. Acquiring these skills will set the necessary foundation to be able to write and form letters later on.

When children put into practice the use of their hands drawing, building puzzles, coloring, ripping paper, pasting, using playdough, etc., they are not only exercising the small muscles of their fingers and hands to make them stronger but they are also working on their hand-eye coordination, visual perception, and pencil grasp technique.

With this in mind, I created two FREE printables. The first one is for them to practice the basic strokes that make up all the letters and numbers. It includes nine pages with different types of strokes, including: I, \, /, o, ^, square, X, and two more.

You can grab this FREE printable at the link below.

The second printable is to practice the first letters and the vocabulary words that I chose for this theme and can be used in coordination with the Word Wall Cards I also created for you. You can grab this FREE printable at the link below.

Fine Motor Ideas

It is important to give children plenty of opportunities to use the small muscles on their hands, fingers, and thumbs, because, without the development of fine motor skills, children will not be able to perform important tasks like grasping, buttoning, zipping, tying, feeding themselves, drawing, copying, using scissors, writing, and so much more.

There are an incredible amount of activities that help children develop those skills. These are just a few ideas that you can use during your Mother’s Day celebration.

Mother’s Day Collage

Offer children family magazines, safety scissors, glue sticks, and construction paper. Invite them to look through the magazines and either rip or cut out their favorite pictures. Have them glue the pictures on construction paper in the color they want to make a collage, to take home. Use the opportunity to ask them questions about the pictures they are choosing, to encourage vocabulary development.

Mom Match

In advance ask your preschoolers’ mothers to bring you a picture of themselves as a baby and a current one. Don’t forget to tell them that the picture might not be returned to them. Write the name of each mom on the back of her pictures and laminate them. Then invite the children to find their mothers’ current pictures and try to match them with their mom’s baby pictures.

Sculpting Family Members

Provide playdough and invite the children to sculpt their family members. Make sure to establish a conversation with your children asking them who they are sculpting, what their name is, what they do during the day, etc., to encourage language development.

Gross Motor / Outdoor Ideas

Any activity that involves the use of large muscles is a gross motor activity. Some examples are: running, jumping, walking, etc., and a good way to help children develop their muscles is by playing games. Even when gross motor activities can be done inside the classroom such as dancing, I like to plan those activities for outdoor time. A good way to start is by using games.

Mother, May I? game

The steps to play this game are very easy to follow.

Start by showing the children how to play it, acting as “mother” first.
Then select one child to be “Mother”.
Line up old players one next to the other.
The player who is “Mother” stands in front of the others.
The mother then calls on a child by name and gives them instructions on what to do. For example, “Rachel, jump forward two times.”
The child who is called on must then say, “Mother, may I?”
The mother then responds either “Yes”, and the child can jump forward, or “No” and the child has to stay in the line.
If a child makes a move and forgets to ask, “Mother, may I?” then must go back to the starting line.
If another child takes the steps out of turn, they must also go back to the starting line.
The first child to reach Mother wins!

“Mom, Mom, Grandma” game

This is a modified version of the game “Duck, Duck, Goose”. To play it, a child is selected to be It. All the players sit in a circle. The child calls It walks around the circle, tapping each player on the head, saying “mom” each time he taps somebody until he says “grandma” when taps a player. Then that player becomes the grandma and runs after It, trying to tag him before It can sit. If It sits in “grandma’s place before he is tagged, the grandma is the new It.

Block Center

In advance, ask your moms for individual pictures of their family members. Laminate them and tape them to blocks. Children can combine the “family blocks” with dollhouses, vehicles, and other props to build their house or their neighborhood.

Cooking

One of the activities that are fun and educational is cooking because it helps preschoolers develop math skills by measuring the ingredients, concentration, and focus to be able to follow instructions and language development. Mother’s Day celebration is the perfect opportunity to put this into practice, and instead of buying muffins, you can have the children make them celebrate “Muffins with Mom” in the classroom.

These are some easy recipes that you can use for this purpose:

Orange Muffins

This recipe is from everydayannie.com. The muffins are not too sweet and they have a delicious orange flavor and a hint of sour cream.

Bakery Style Banana Muffins

A very easy banana bread muffin recipe from thefirstyearsomethingsweet.com, that can be made using just one bowl and a handful of ingredients.

Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

A muffin done by thesaltymashmallow.com, with a simple batter and amazing vanilla and spices flavor, that tastes like an old-fashioned donut rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Amazing!

Invite your preschoolers’ mom to celebrate Mother’s Day with a special breakfast, using any of these handmade muffins and some juice. To remember the occasion, give each mom a laminated “Muffins with Mom” poem.

Since I like to tie the activities together, I normally read them the book “If You Give a Mom a Muffin” the day before. The next day you can add a copy of the poem to any present the children did for their moms. To help you with this task, I created this FREE printable that contains the “If You Give a Mom a Muffin” poem using 20 different backgrounds and two versions.

The first version presents one poem on each sheet of paper. You can print it out and laminate it or frame it, and give it to your children’s mothers during the “Muffins With Mom” celebration as a gift. To grab this version, just click on the link below.

The second version presents the same poems but two different ones placed on one sheet of paper, to save some ink and paper. Just click on the link below to download them, and use your favorites.

Decorations

You cannot forget to add decorations during your Mother’s Day celebration, to make the space more inviting.

Inspirational Wall Art

You can display this Mother’s Day inspirational art in your classroom or home, or simply frame your favorites and give them to your preschooler’s moms, grandmothers, friends, etc., as a gift. They come in two versions, English and Spanish. They are completely FREE for you to use, and you can get your favorite version by simply clicking on one of the links below.

Mother’s Day Banner

Another idea I can offer you is to display a banner at the entrance of your classroom or home, to welcome the moms that are coming to your celebration. I created this FREE banner to say “Happy Mother’s Day”, but since the letters come one on each page, you probably can play with them to create another message of your preference. Just click on the link below to get it.

There are many other decorations that you can use for Mother’s Day. These are some ideas you can find on Amazon.

Last Thoughts

Undoubtful, mothers, caregivers, grandmothers, and aunts are very important figures in everybody’s life, especially for children, but I would like to include teachers as well, because, in this complicated world where everybody has to work, children spend most of their time with their teachers, from infant years until they graduate from high school.

All of these maternal figures have an important role in the overall growth and development of people because they teach us, take care of us, support us, encourage us, and are always present in every aspect of our lives, no matter how old we are. So, this Mother’s Day, let us take a moment to honor, celebrate, and demonstrate appreciation and love not only to our birth mothers but also to all of these other amazing women who have been there for us and who have made our lives better.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! I hope you enjoy your special day with your family.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if you like any of these ideas worked for you, or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find useful. Also, if you came up with different ideas and want to share them, I would love to post them as well.