Our new lesson for 2024 Mother’s Day includes a coloring page, object lesson, word search, easy-to-teach lesson plan, and craft ideas for honoring mom.
This simple lesson plan for Mother’s Day is based on Ephesians 6:1-3. The PDF download includes 6 original coloring pages and a printable game about biblical mothers.
Don’t miss the 10-page coloring book for Mother’s Day with talking point questions to turn craft time into a teaching moment.
I’ve written This simple lesson plan for our kids’ church on Mother’s Day. My target length is about 20 minutes during the children’s church service. It can also be used for a Mother’s Day Sunday school lesson. I’ll list additional resources at the end of the lesson plan.
Learning Objectives / Indicators: After this lesson, children will . . .
- Demonstrate an understanding of what it means to honor their mother by choosing from potential responses the ones that will most honor their mother.
- Demonstrate appreciation toward their mother by writing a “what I like about you” letter.
Key Teaching Points:
- Parents are gifts from God to help kids.
- God expects us to have right attitudes and actions toward our parents.
- We should be thankful for our parents.
- Even parents need Jesus to forgive them, we must love parents even when they are not perfect.
Target Age Group: 5 – 10 years old {U.S. Kindergarten – 3rd Grade}
Bible Story: Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
Teaching Setting: This lesson was first taught in our children’s church on Sunday morning to about 25 children. Before the lesson, the children participated in several songs and group Bible memory exercises. Target length of this lesson is 20 minutes. It would work equally well in a Sunday School class.
Items Needed:
- Special parchment or premium paper cut in half sheets. (Regular paper will do in a pinch.) Pencils, crayons or markers
- Display of Ephesians 6:1-3, this can be on a poster, marker board, or PowerPoint. If possible, have it on a format where you can underline the action verbs while discussing the passage. See “Review Action Words” below.
- Optional: Printable “Moms of the Bible” game (included in the PDF above)
- Optional: Mother’s Day Coloring Pages (included in the PDF above)
Explanation: This lesson is designed to be used in Children’s Church or Sunday School on Mother’s Day. It has two learning objectives. First, I wanted the kids to understand what it means to honor their mothers. Second, I wanted to help them develop an attitude of appreciation for their mothers.
Special care should be taken for children who do not have mothers in their life. In such cases, emphasize that these truths apply to any parent or guardian that God has put in the child’s life.
Related Resource Links: Here are links to other websites that feature free lesson plans and learning activities related to Mother’s Day
- Our list of Bible Verses about Mothers
- Our suggested Craft Projects for Mother’s Day
- Mother’s Day from DLTK website (offsite link)
Teaching Plan: Honor Your Mother
(a special children’s church lesson for Mother’s day)
Introduction / Hook: Ask the children to close their eyes and try to picture the person you describe. Say, “Think of a woman who has spent more time helping you than anyone else.” Allow several volunteers to answer. Ask follow-up questions to help them see that their mom is a very important person in their life.
Say, “Today, we are going to learn what kind of attitude God wants us to have toward our parents. This is true for moms and dads, or foster parents, or grandparents who take care of you. But we are going to talk a lot about moms today because it is Mother’s Day.”
Active Listening: Say, “In just a minute, we are going to read a Bible verse that teaches us how God wants us to treat our parents. While we read it, I want you to listen for any action words (verbs) that you hear. Then we’ll review to see how many you could find.”
Bible Passage: Display Ephesians 6:1-3 or have the children look it up in their Bibles. Read the Bible verses to the class; be sure to emphasize the action words discussed below. Then read it a second time to give the children a “second chance” to hear the action words.
Say It: Ask the children to repeat the Bible verse after you several times.
Review Action Words: Ask volunteers to explain which action words they heard in the passage. For each response, ask the children to explain what the word means. They may need help from the class. After each word, clarify what the word means. Here are the words they should have heard, with meaning in italics.
- Obey – Doing what a person wants you to do
- Honor – Heart attitude about a person’s importance
- Go well – Living a good life
- Live (NIV says “enjoy long life”) – Staying alive a long time
{Objective #1 Learning Activity} Is This Honoring Your Mother?
Say, “Honoring means having the right attitude about someone and showing their importance in how you act.” Read the following statements, and have the children agree or disagree. If the statement honors your mother, the children should stand up. If the statement is not honoring, the children should sit with their arms crossed.
- Doing what mom says right away {True}
- Throwing a fit if you don’t get what you want {False}
- Eating your dinner with thankfulness {True}
- Complaining about what mom cooked for dinner {False}
- Telling your mom that you love her {True}
- Praying for your mom {True}
- Telling other people your mom is not nice {False}
{Objective #2 Learning Activity} What I like about you . . .
Have the children write and decorate a letter to their mother (or caretaker) that answers this question. If you have many younger children present, they will need help writing. Encourage them to draw a picture that goes along with what they like. It may be helpful to write common words or phrases on a marker board to help the children write their letters. Some possible examples:
- I like the way you read to me
- I like the way you help me when I’m hurt
- I like it when you pray for me at bedtime
- I like it when you hug me
- I like it when you take me shopping
Share It: Ask for several volunteers to share what they wrote to their mother.
Optional: You can add a picture of the child to the card using a Polaroid or digital camera.
Closing: Lead the children in a prayer of thanks for their Moms and Grandmothers.