Mother’s Day Activities With Free Printables
Now that we are finally free to open our schools and classrooms to guests again, this Mothers’ Day would be a great opportunity to invite your student’s mums in for a special celebration. Why not suggest one afternoon in the lead up to Mother’s Day on May 8th?
In the past, I have often held open classrooms for occasions such as Mother’s or Father’s Days where families are invited to school and welcome to join in some fun, entertainment and light refreshments.
Your Mother’s Day afternoon does involve a little prep work on your behalf though, in order for it to go smoothly.
There is preparation prior to the day that needs to be done which includes;
starting with deciding on the date and time. Together as a class, create and decorate an invite which you can copy and send to all mums, or grandmas or carers in some instances
creating a gift that your students can present to their mums on the day. This could include a card and a photo keyring. For the keyring, you will need to take students’ photos and print them on the colour photocopier at school and then on the other side print No. 1 Mum 2022. These will take a little time to organise as well as cutting them out to fit into small transparent keyrings which you can purchase from $2 shops.
for your card, have your students answer questions about their mum/grandma. You can download my copy of Mother’s Day Questionnaire Card’s here.
start practising The Mother’s Day Song by Bryant Oden to perform on the day. It is a humorous song and you can find the lyrics here. There are six verses, so I placed my class into three groups and they stood up and sang two verses each and then sat down, everyone would stand up and join in the chorus. You can create some actions to go along with it also
preparing a snack for your class to share with their mums. E.g. have your students pop some popcorn in a popcorn machine and place in a cup each. Have students ice some arrowroot biscuits and decorate with lollies. Provide some cordial or juice
make a welcome poster for the door or window to welcome your mums to the afternoon activities
When it comes to the day, you want it to be as calm and smooth as you can make it. Make sure to have your bell or your attention grabber ready for when you need everyone’s attention. Discuss with your students your expectations and remind them of your class rules. You will be surprised how your students can change once their mum is in the room.
You want to get your mums involved as much as possible so make sure to include activities they can take part in.
A general outline of the afternoon would go something like this;
Students greet and welcome their mums into the room. Students sit on the floor, guests sit on chairs at the tables
Teacher welcomes everyone and gives an outline of the afternoon
Teacher introduces the class to present The Mothers Day Song. Students come to the front of the room to face the audience
Have some fun together such as;
Students sit with their mums as the teacher guides everyone to make an origami lily flower. Find the instructions here. Each person will need a piece of red square paper
Ask for a few mothers to come forward to sit on a chair out the front. They place their hands behind their back. Their child comes up and places their arms from behind under their armpits and attempts to apply some makeup to their mum’s face. If you don’t have any makeup on hand, you could prepare jelly and have them try to feed their mums from the bowl of jelly. Be prepared for lots of laughs
Distribute paper plates and a lead pencil to everyone; including mums and students. Everyone must place the plate on their head and draw the picture you are describing E.g. draw a circle at the top of the plate, inside the circle, draw two eyes and a smile. Draw some curly hair around the circle. Draw a triangle for the body underneath the circle. Add two legs and two arms. Draw a bunch of flowers in the left hand. In the end, take the plates off their heads, share everyones drawings and have a laugh
Place items around the room like an obstacle course; chair, hoop, table. Select some students to race against their mum holding a baby dolly on their waist and carrying two school bags as they race through the course. There is not time for everyone to have a go. Have a stopwatch ready
Ask a mum to read one of the ‘mum themed’ picture books. E.g. Wild About Mums by Philip Bunting or Some Mums by Nick Bland
Students present their mums with their premade gifts and cards
Have time to share the food you have prepared. Encourage mums and students to mingle
Finish off with a free dance together or a Just Dance such as All About that Bass by Meghan Trainor
Teacher thanks the guests for coming. Students are dismissed to go home with their mums
If you are after more Mothers Day activities you can find them here on my Mother’s Day Craft Pinterest board.
Have you held a Mothers Day Afternoon before? What have you done in the past to make your mums feel special at this time of the year? We would love it if you joined the conversation and left a comment below.
