What If

Materials

If by Sarah Perry

Paper

Markers or crayons

Instructions

1. Show the children pictures of mothers with children. Discuss mothers and the
caring things they do for their children every day.
2. Ask the children to think about their mothers' faces. Give each child a 9" x
12" sheet of construction paper in the color closest to his mother's skin tone.
3. Ask the children to draw a large circle or oval shape for the mother's face.
Encourage them to add facial features using crayons, but not to draw hair.
4. Help the children cut out their shapes.
5. Cut hair-colored construction paper into strips about 1" x 4" (2 cm x 10 cm).
6. Give the children strips of paper in the color that most closely matches their
mother's hair. Show the children how to put a curl into the paper strip by
rolling the paper tightly around a jumbo crayon, holding it for a moment, and
then slipping the crayon out (keeping the curl intact).
7. Ask the children to put a small dot of glue on the inside edge of the curl.
Show them how to slip the glued end under the edge of the face cutout so
that the curl winds up and over the edge of the face.
8. The children can repeat this step with other strips, curling and gluing them
around the hairline. Encourage them to look in a classroom mirror to see
where their own hair grows around their faces.
9. Provide damp paper towels for finger wiping as they alternately curl and glue.
Allow the glue to dry before displaying the pictures.
More to do
Bulletin Board: Create a classroom Mother's Day display by hanging the portraits
and sentences (see below).
Language: Ask the children to complete this sentence: "I love my mother
because..." Write down their dictated thoughts.
More Language: Invite the children to contribute to a classroom list of ways their
mothers help them.