Best Mother's Day Activities and Lessons

Celebrate Mother’s Day in your classroom with these fun and free learning resources. Whether your students are making personalized cards for the special moms in their lives, learning fun coding and STEM activities, or exploring motherhood in the natural world, the ideas and tools here can be enjoyed by kids of all ages.

Best Mother's Day Activities and Lessons

NYT Learning Network: What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Received?
Choosing or making the perfect gift is often a part of Mother’s Day. But what is the perfect gift? The New York Times solicited readers’ opinion on the best gift they ever received. Have your students read the article, then write about the best gift they’ve ever received. A thought-provoking article for the consumer age. Free, no account required.

NYT Learning Network: Science Practice | A Study on Baby Talk
This Mother’s Day related biology/sociology/linguistics lesson asks students to read and analyze a fascinating article about a study that compared the interactions between mothers and offspring in humans, bonobos, chimpanzees, and gorillas. An excellent choice for an open-ended high school inquiry lesson. Free, no account required.

Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard," by Billy Collins
A standards-aligned lesson based on poet Billy Collins’ "The Lanyard," which explores the narrator’s memory of a gift he gave his mother. If you’ve read the poem as an adult, surely you laughed aloud—although that may not be the reaction of your students. Either way, it’s a fine lesson in poetry. Includes a video of the poet reading his work and a detailed worksheet to guide students’ inquiries. Grades 6-12.

Orangutans: Mother Knows Best
Did you know that the orangutan has the longest interval between offspring of any mammals—and the longest childhood of any mammal (up to 12 years!), save humans? This standards-aligned lesson features a fascinating five-minute clip from the PBS Nature series delving into the ways that a young orangutan learns survival skills from its mother. Includes guidance for teachers, questions for discussion and student handouts. May be printed or shared to Google Drive. Grades 3-8.

Digital Mother’s Day Gift
Educator Jennifer Findlay shares her digital Mother’s Day Top Ten greeting card/slideshow, available in four themes. This is a great way to help kids express appreciation for their mother while practicing their writing skills.

Science Buddies: How Does a Chick Breathe Inside Its Shell?
A chicken’s egg is so familiar to most of us as to seem unworthy of inspection. Yet, like motherhood, it’s actually a remarkable state of being that we should strive to understand. This fine biology lesson guides students in investigating the inner workings of an “ordinary” egg, using commonly available materials.

Plant Evolution WordSearch Puzzle
Given the season, plants are a natural gift for Mother’s Day. Use this well-known association as a starting point for a word search focused on plant anatomy terms. Want to dive deeper into plant biology? Check out the history of the American rose and the Plant Parts and Functions lesson plan for grades 6-8.

Mother's Day Painting
An art lesson based on the intimate portraits of mothers with their children by the famous American painter Mary Cassatt. Using paper or canvas plus acrylic paints, students will create artwork illustrating the unique bond between mother and child. Free account required.

Animals and Offspring
A lesson to delight every preschool child, Animals and Offspring consists of a free downloadable PDF that includes learning objectives, explicit instruction, differentiation, baby animal matching images, and more. Perfect for kids learning to identify animals, the lesson also serves as social-emotional learning and can be expanded to include art and literacy. Free account required.

A Celebration of Famous Mothers in Art
From Google Arts and Culture, this stunning assemblage of great works of art featuring mothers invites the viewer to observe closely. Each work of art is accompanied by a description and related links. An excellent starting point for a Mother’s Day art lesson.

The 15 Most Memorable Mothers In Literature
While real mothers may receive heart-filled greeting cards, the same cannot be assumed for mothers from literature, many of whom were difficult, absent, mentally ill, or otherwise human. Perfect for an advanced literature class, this potentially provocative collection of literary mothers is sure to engender opinions and lively classroom conversation.

Mother’s Day 2026
The history of Mother’s Day is not all rainbows and butterflies. In fact, founder Ann Jarvis was appalled at the commercialization of Mother’s Day and worked against it in her later life. Learn how Mother’s Day history touches on the Civil War, the early peace movement, women’s suffrage, and other crucial topics of the 19th and 20th centuries. High school lesson idea: Ask your students to research and write about different societies’ attitudes toward mothers over the past two millennia.

13 Mother's Day Celebration Ideas for School
Mother’s Day offers the chance to bring the expressive arts into your classroom. Ranging from reading and writing assignments to decorating vases, these activities are aimed at primary and middle school students, and are easily implemented.

Mothers In The Movies
Mothers in the movies have been at times lionized, at times demonized—and at times portrayed as the complex humans that they are. Peruse this article to find excellent material for discussions in high school social studies and psychology classes.

Mother’s Day Online Quizzes, Games, and Worksheets
Ideal for youngsters and English Language Learners, these activities include picture vocabulary, word jumble, Mother’s Day crossword puzzle, and more.

Crafty STEM activities for Mother’s Day
18 super-fun Mother’s Day-related activities that students will enjoy. Tell a story with a homemade flip book, create a family portrait mobile, or make an edible gift for Mom. Ever heard of a thaumatrope? Learn how this unique toy from the past was used – then make your own.

Mother’s Day And Father’s Day In The Inclusive Classroom
Not every kid has a mother in the home, so it’s crucial to make sure all students are included in Mother’s Day activities without causing them shame or distress. This article by educator Haley O’Connor offers lots of good ideas for creating a meaningful, inclusive Mother’s Day lesson, and links to her digital Mother’s Day resources.

Story Corps Stories to Celebrate Mother’s Day
A genuine and touching celebration of the relationships between mothers and kids. Consider offering credit to students who record their own Mother’s Day conversations on the StoryCorps website.

Code.org Customizable Mother’s Day Cards and Music Quiz
These customizable coding activities from the reliable and free Code.org offer something for every kid and every mother, from flowers to Teddy Bears to a music quiz for moms