Mother’s Day is the perfect occasion for EYFS practitioners to introduce children to new vocabulary about family. In addition, Mother’s Day activities allow children’s imagination to roam, enabling them to explore new activities and crafts they will absolutely love.
Contents
Why do we celebrate Mother’s Day in Early Years?
Mother’s Day is an excellent topic for Early Years settings. There are plenty of EYFS activities that make perfect handmade gifts that children can give to their mothers, grandmothers, sisters or caregivers. These activities serve as the ideal segway for any early years teacher to teach children new vocabulary related to families, emotions and relationships.
What is Mother’s Day?
Simply put, Mother’s Day celebrates mothers. It can be traced back to Ancient Rome and Greece, as this day served as a celebration of the Mother goddess.
Mother’s Day became a religious holiday in the 16th century. This is because Christians would visit their ‘mother’ church on the fourth Sunday of Lent, a celebration known as Mothering Sunday.
Over the centuries, Mother’s Day has evolved to celebrate mothers, caregivers, grandmothers etc. The date of Mother’s Day changes every year, with most countries celebrating it on a Sunday rather than a particular date.
Is Mother’s Day different in every country?
Mother’s Day is celebrated in over 50 countries. However, not all countries celebrate it on the same day. In the UK, the date of Mother’s Day is connected to Easter, and therefore, the date changes according to that year’s Easter. In Australia, the United States, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and Belgium, Mother’s Day occurs on the second Sunday of May.
In Mexico and many parts of Central and South America, Mother’s Day is celebrated on 10 May each year. Albania, Vietnam, Burundi and Uzbekistan celebrate Mother’s Day on International Women’s Day.
Thoughtful Mother’s Day activities for communication and language development
Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity to teach vocabulary that younger children can use in their everyday lives.
In addition to being fun, the following early years resources and ideas encourage sequencing, repetition and play. Moreover, they also promote language and communication development opportunities.
Here are some activities you could try with your class or setting:
My Mum Likes
A good activity for Mother’s Day is to make a Chatta board and call it “My Mum Likes.” Put pictures of all the different things that children’s mothers, aunties, grandmas or carers like to do. It might be things they like to eat, places they like to go, hobbies they enjoy, and people they enjoy being with. E.g. My mum likes going for walks. She likes cats. My grandma likes a nice cup of tea.
Helpful things to do for mum
Use Chatta to describe and explain helpful things to do at home for Mother’s Day. It might be tidying up, preparing a meal or a gift, or offering to do jobs around the house. Describe them all using Chatta. E.g. We can make our bed and keep our room tidy. We can set the table.
Draw a Picture
Ask your students to draw a picture of their family on a piece of paper. They can use paint, crayons or coloured pencils. In addition to being a creative and enjoyable activity, children’s art makes a beautiful gift. Take photos and describe the drawings using Chatta. E.g. John drew his mum, grandma and brother. Hailey painted her dad, step mum and dog.
Mother’s Day card craft
Chatta is perfect for explaining instructions step by step. Make a Mother’s Day card and photograph the different things you need and the different things you have to do. Describe them as instructions with Chatta. E.g. First, stick on the flower and the leaves. Next, curl some strips of paper, etc.
Decorate heart-shaped biscuits
Baking shortbread biscuits for Mother’s Day is a great idea for Mother’s Day gifts. Encourage your children to decorate ready-made shortbread biscuits using icing, chocolate or hundreds and thousands. Take photos and describe the process using Chatta. E.g. We sifted the icing sugar into a bowl. Then, we added warm water. We used the icing sugar to decorate the biscuits, etc.
Old Mother Hubbard
Nursery rhymes are brilliant for language, repeating words and vocabulary. “Old Mother Hubbard” is a fun nursery rhyme to share on Mother’s Day. You can record it with Chatta and even send it home. E.g. Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to give the poor dog a bone.
Daisy bookmark
A daisy bookmark is the perfect handmade gift for Mother’s Day. Best of all, it is a quick craft that children of all ages can enjoy. Describe what you did using Chatta. E.g. We cut out a rectangle from a green piece of cardboard. We dipped our fingertips in yellow paint. Then, we created the petals by fingerprinting a circle of white petals, etc.
We hope you enjoy these Mother’s Day activities. If you know of any activities we’ve not listed here, tweet us @hellochatta or share your activity in the Chatta community.
You can download the Chatta software and trial it for free by visiting https://app.chattalearning.com.
