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Holidays bring a special joy to preschoolers, offering them a blend of fun and educational experiences through themed activities. These activities serve a dual purpose: they entertain and educate simultaneously. Holidays centered around expressing love, such as Mother's Day, are particularly valuable. They not only help preschoolers grasp the concept of love but also allow them to apply and sharpen the skills they are learning in the classroom.
In this article, we will share simple yet meaningful activity ideas to celebrate Mother's Day, each designed to teach and reinforce vital life skills.
Teaching love to preschoolers
Children learn a lot through observation, yet actively participating enhances their learning, particularly in developing social skills. Concepts such as love are more effectively demonstrated than explained.
Mother’s Day provides a great opportunity for children to learn to express love, affection, gratitude, selflessness, and thoughtfulness—key components of their social-emotional growth. This holiday is a perfect time for preschoolers to engage in creating something special, a unique gift that reflects their appreciation and feelings towards their mother or mother figure, thereby enriching their understanding of emotional expression.
However, as you celebrate this holiday, remember that not everyone has the same family dynamic or structure. Some children may have an adoptive mother, foster mother, grandmother, or other relative as their caretaker or mother figure. Keep this in mind as you discuss anything surrounding Mother’s Day, and try to keep things as inclusive as possible. Be mindful of how you frame the holiday; express it as a chance to show love and appreciation to anyone who helps take care of them. Consider how your children may have diverse home situations, from what language their mother figure may speak to whether they primarily live with that person. For activities that include information related to their family structure or the identity of their mother figure, leave them more open-ended so children can fill in what applies to them or provide options to choose what they feel most comfortable with.
Special holidays like Mother’s Day can also be an opportunity to incorporate activities and crafts that teach other essential skills like fine motor skills, pattern recognition, and identifying shapes and colors.
Fine motor skills
Mother’s Day crafts aren’t just great for showing children how to express love; they can also support the development of their fine motor skills. Activities that involve holding different utensils or maneuvering their hands with some basic precision will engage these skills and reinforce their development in a fun, creative way. Incorporate crafts that require finger painting, coloring, gluing, or drawing that help children practice various fine motor skills.
Pattern recognition
Being able to identify and even replicate patterns is an important part of early childhood development. It’s a skill children will use in growing their understanding of numbers now and in mathematics as they get older. Activities and crafts featuring patterns can help children learn how to create patterns and recognize them thoroughly enough to replicate them. Patterns can also add an engaging, creative element, so try incorporating things like decorating crafts with striped or color-blocked patterns, polka dots, or repetitive prints for Mother’s Day.
Shapes and colors
Crafting activities that incorporate fundamental concepts can enhance children's learning progress. For preschoolers mastering basic shapes and colors, Mother's Day crafts offer an excellent opportunity for practice. Select activities that integrate these elements to deepen their comprehension. For example, offering diverse shapes allows children to create images like houses, flowers, or portraits of their mother figure, enriching their understanding and creativity.
Mother’s Day crafts for preschoolers
Mother’s Day is a holiday about love, so it’s an opportunity to teach children empathy by encouraging them to think about how hard their mother figure works to provide a great life for them. Holiday activities may be difficult to organize into your typical lesson plans, so utilize a tool like brightwheel’s lesson plan feature to create custom curriculum and share progress with families. Then, try incorporating some of these Mother’s Day crafts:
Paper picture frame
Create a simple picture frame for children to color in and decorate.
Paper flower bouquet
Let children choose different colored paper, then cut it into small squares, fold them, and then cut off the corners to create petal shapes. Repeat these steps until there are enough flowers for a colorful bouquet.
Matching bracelets
Use assorted colorful beads and thread, yarn, rope, string, or pipe cleaners to help children make a bracelet for themselves and a matching one to give to their mother figure as a gift.
“World’s Greatest” award or “Hero” award
Print out simple outlines of awards, medals, or certificates online and let children color and fill them in for their loved one.
Love coupons
Help children create or write in small coupon booklets with things like hugs, kisses, cleaning up their toys, or picking flowers.
Handprint flower bouquets
Use washable paint to help preschoolers make handprint art on paper. Once dry, these handprints can be cut out and attached to straws or craft sticks to create a bouquet.
Final thoughts
Crafting for Mother’s Day in a preschool setting is more than just an art project; it's a meaningful educational experience that builds on vital developmental skills while allowing children to express love and gratitude in tangible forms. These crafts not only serve as cherished gifts but also reinforce lessons in color, shape, and emotion recognition, all crucial aspects of preschool learning.
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