Part of the hilarity of P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? lives in the fact that the baby bird wonders if his mother is an airplane or a “Snort.” Even toddlers will be quick to giggle at the ridiculousness of that! Strawberry and I also enjoy reading this classic together because she loves to pretend to be my baby bird. Yes, she’s a big girl, ready to do everything herself! But sometimes, just sometimes, she comes to me for a cuddle. Mother-Baby Matching activities are just what my baby-loving big girl loves.
Are You My Mother? lends itself well, then for two different types of activities. First, we used the book as a starting point for a discussion on what things have mothers and which things do not. The book also suggest the activity of matching babies and mothers together. My daughter loves mother-baby matching activities! Mothers and babies just belong together.
Does a “Snort” have a mother? Does an airplane? Why not? After we finished reading the book, we used some of her plastic toys to sort between “has a mother” and does not, and I also made a cut-and-paste activity as well, since Strawberry simply loves cutting and pasting!
Then, using some farm animals, I made a sliding activity for Strawberry to play with (pictured above). She loved how with each new baby on top, I asked, “Are you my mother?” of the animal on the bottom. Strawberry loved pulling the sliders to get to the right mothers and babies.
I also made flashcards of mothers and babies to play a matching game. I put the baby names on the cards too, so Strawberry could learn those terms. We played memory together, and then, of course, she played “mother” and “baby” with the cards. Everything needs a voice and of course mothers and babies need to talk.
We also have
ABC animal flashcards
, with the uppercase letters being the mother animals and the lowercase letters being the baby animals. Practicing alphabet uppercase/lowercase match while playing “Go Fish” is another good literacy activity.
Since Strawberry loves the mother-baby connection so much, I may invest in the
Safari Toob for these animal mothers and babies
as well! Next time we play with our mother-baby cards, she’ll love putting the model animals on the cards as well.
Get the Mother-Baby Matching Activities set in my Shop or at TeachersPayTeachers.
This post is a part of the Homeschool Blogging Network’s series, 10 Days of Tips for Homeschooling Moms.
This week, I’m going to share 10 days of Picture Book Preschool Lessons.
Click over to the landing page to see the other posts I will be sharing. You can also see what tips the other homeschooling bloggers are sharing on their blogs.