Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May in many countries, including Australia, the United States, and Canada. As the day approaches, teachers often look for easy-to-make gifts for children to give to mothers or other carers.  In this post, I share inexpensive suggestions that are easily incorporated into your class literacy and art programs.

Before beginning to work on gifts for mothers, it is important to have some knowledge of children’s backgrounds so you can treat with sensitivity the diversity of family situations that may be represented in your classroom and adjust the program accordingly. For example, when you are already part-way through an activity, it is no good finding out from an upset child that his mother has passed.

It is best to find out this information at least a few weeks before commencing the activities to allow time for consultation with families if necessary. An easy way of doing this is to ask the children to draw a picture of the people who live at their house. Children can then show and discuss their pictures and their families, including those who have two homes and two families.

Your school librarian will be able to suggest picture books to read about diverse families, or you can find some on this list.

You could introduce the activity by saying something like, “Mother’s Day is a day on which

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