Mother’s Day is around the corner, and it is sure to be completely different this year than anyone has ever experienced before. As a child care center, we would usually be making those personalized crafts, and they’d be drying on our window sills right now.
Even though many of the kiddos are staying at home, there are still ways you can be part of this great holiday and help the families in your care have ways to celebrate.
YouTube Read-Alouds by Teachers!
If your center doesn’t already have a YouTube channel, what are you waiting for? It is free and it is super easy to do. You can add content from any device, and it will be so helpful to all the mamas out there when they just need a break. (Where are all my YouTube playlist friends? Life saver sometimes!)
Once you have your channel set up, add some Mother’s Day stories to it, and have some teachers read them. Do a variety of stories so that everyone who is watching can relate. Include stories of different ethnicities and family dynamics. Make sure you have minimal background noise when recording and are close enough to the camera that the kids can see the pictures.
If creating a YouTube channel is just too much for you or not something you’re interested in, no worries. Simply record yourself reading the story and attach it to an email or read it live during a Zoom session. Some suggested titles include:
- Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
- Mommy, MAMA, and Me by Leslea Newman
- The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
- Did I Tell You I Love You Today? by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan
- Oh, the Things My Mom Will Do…Because She Loves Me Through and Through! by Marianne Richmond
- The Mommy Book by Todd Parr
Coupon Books
What mom doesn’t love a coupon book of things she can “cash in on?” This does not need to be anything fancy — it can be handwritten or typed. Include coupons for:
- Breakfast in bed
- Sleeping in
- Foot massage
- Using the bathroom without interruption
- Snuggles
- Whatever else you can think of!
Provide this in a Word document so that it can be printed and edited at home. Make sure families know that if they do not have a working printer at home, it is so easy to just write these on pieces of paper and staple together to form a little coupon booklet. Encourage students to color the pages and present it to mom on Mother’s Day.
Provide Mother’s Day Cards
There are some great, free cards to download that you can find by searching online that have funny quarantine themes. Dads or other grownups can print at home or you could even mail them to homes if you have time! This can be printed onto regular paper and kids can add their own message. It’ll bring a little humor to the day.
Organize a Zoom “Muffins with Mom” Session
On the Monday after Mother’s Day, our director and teachers will hold a 30-minute Zoom session for moms. This will be a time where ALL mom friends can join. The director will welcome everyone, say a few words of encouragement, share a few funny “mom memes” and a video, and then create breakout rooms for each class. Each breakout room will be organized by class so that all of the mommies can hang out for a few minutes and check in with each other. Each teacher and assistant will be the host for their breakout room for 10 minutes. Some teachers will sing songs, read a story, some may do yoga stretches, while others do circle time. Encourage the moms to bring their coffee and come in their comfy pj’s!
You can end the session in the breakout room OR you can have everyone come back to the main room to do a closing. Just make sure this is enjoyable and 100% geared toward the moms. This is not the time to give announcements or collect tuition 😉 This is a time to encourage, empower, and engage. Don’t let this go on for too long and remember to mute everyone in the beginning! You can make this as upbeat and fun as you’d like. It does not need to be over the top and high maintenance. Moms will just appreciate having a few moments with other moms! You could even do “mimosas with mom” instead 😉
NOTE: consider having this be for any “mom figure” in a child’s life since some kids may not have a mom. It can be an aunt, special friend, grandma, etc. if they are able to come onto the call.
Video Footage of Kids Talking About Their Mommies
Okay, so this one will take some prep, but if you are tech savvy and have time, it will be SO worth it! Send a message or email to the grownups at home (other than moms if possible) to record a short video of their child saying what they love most about their mommy and sending it through HiMama or email. Then you can splice the whole thing into a YouTube video to share during a live Zoom session on Mother’s Day or through the HiMama app on Mother’s Day! This will be something they can treasure for years!
Have a Parade in Your Parking Lot!
We did this last week at our center here in Pennsylvania, and it was a hit! We had teachers stand well over 10 feet apart throughout our parking lot and each teacher had an enlarged page of a story, so cars would wave and drive by each part of the story. Then at the end of the story, the teacher placed a distant learning kit in the trunk of each car! Parents were SO grateful to safely get out of the house and see the teachers! Here’s a video of how we did this:
You can do this for Mother’s Day by having each teacher hold up a sign that has a different encouraging quote or message for moms. Then at the very end, when they pop their trunk, you can safely place a Mother’s Day gift inside! It could be something as simple as a flower or bag of seeds with a little note attached to it or a photo of their child with a quote. Be creative and thoughtful, and just think about how nice it’ll be for each mom to feel loved and appreciated!
Whether you decide to go big or go small for Mother’s Day, consider doing something that will honor moms and allow them to feel connected to your childcare center. Even though you may not be open or together in person, it’s important to show that you care and that you honor them. Remember that some moms are working from home. Some moms have children with special needs. Some moms are doing this alone. Some moms are ill. Some moms are trying to hold it together with balancing it all. What can you and your center do to bring a smile to their faces and a moment of hope into their day? Whatever it is, do that!
