Moms work hard all year long caring for their children. They fix meals; help with homework; wash clothes; clean house; heal physical wounds; sooth emotional hurts; teach lessons of life; attend recitals, concerts, and sports games; host parties; act as chauffeurs; and much, much more. One day a year, it's Mom's turn to be pampered. Here are some easy and creative ways to pamper Mom and show her some love.
And mom? It's okay if you give your kids some ideas to start with. What they do and how they do it is still up to them.
And mom? It's okay if you give your kids some ideas to start with. What they do and how they do it is still up to them.
- Make a Mother's Day Card
Mother's Day cards are readily available everywhere, even on the Internet, so why make a card? As a mom myself, I can say without any hesitation that the best Mother's Day cards I got were the ones my son made himself for me. Not only did those cards show me that he took the time to make them himself, but they also reflected who he was and what he himself thought.
To make a card, kids need some paper and their favorite mode of artistic expression. That just means they can use crayons, colored pencils, or paints to draw or create designs. Then they can add anything else with a little bit of glue. The more they have to work with, the more creative they can be. Some items they can use include the following: ribbon, lace, glitter, and sequins. But they can use almost anything that can be glued to paper (including macaroni).
If your kids need a little jump start on ideas, have them take a look at these two homemade card ideas:
- Write a Poem or Short Story
A child doesn't have to be a little Shakespeare or Hemingway to be able to write a poem or short story for Mom on Mother's Day. All they need is their love for Mom. They can be as creative as they are capable of being. Encouraging a child to write a poem or short story will not just lead to a wonderful keepsake for Mom, but will also help nurture and foster a love of fiction writing.
Your child can combine the card idea with the writing idea to end up with a truly personalized Mother's Day card with the child's very own poem inside or a little booklet that tells a story about Mom. The story can be the child's view of something special Mom once did or a representation of what Mom does on a daily basis. For example, it can be the child's version of the time Mom stayed up all night to make that special costume for the school play or the way she always make bedtime special. Serve Breakfast in Bed
This idea can be tricky for the little kids since they can't make too much on their own. There are two ways around this trickiness. One is to just have the kids help Dad make the special breakfast, but the other is to keep the meal simple so the kids can do most, if not all of it themselves. What really matters is not the meal itself, but the love the kids put into it.
The simplest breakfasts would include items like crackers and cheese, cereal, peanut butter toast, toaster waffles or pancakes, microwaveable muffins and other breakfast items, fruit, and some juice. To make such simple meals special, the kids can arrange the food artfully and lovingly on a plate and on a tray. They can also place their Mother's Day card on the tray, along with a flower if they have one. My son used to pick dandelions and put them in a small glass of water. They were as lovely to me as a bouquet of roses. The kids can even make flowers the day before Mother's Day such as some simple button flowers or a pot of candy flowers.
If the kids have some help and want to make something fancier for breakfast, they might want to make one of these recipes:Give a "Gift Certificate"
This idea is a great one, which can be used for any occasion, but it's perfect for Mother's Day. How many times does Mom have to ask the kids to clean their room or do some other chore? How many tasks could use an extra pair of hands around the house or in the yard? Rather than buy a gift for Mom on Mother's Day, the kids can give her a "gift certificate" that is redeemable for any activity. The kids can write in the activity they want to offer (like "One room cleaning without complaining" or "Leaf raking") or they can leave the choice up to Mom to fill in the blank in a certificate. Kids can create their own certificate or they can download a printable sheet of three certificates that can be filled out.