Thank your mom, in a letter, for a lunch she packed: what was in it, the note or the napkin, and the part you saved for last.First line: I ate around the orange slices so they would be the end.
Find a photo of your mom from before you knew her, and write what she was about to do next.Angle: her hair, her shoes, who is beside her, and what is still the same about her.
Have your mom describe the room she slept in as a girl, and write a guided tour of it.Angle: what was on the wall, what was under the bed, what she could hear at night.
Build a Mother's Day acrostic from the letters of your mom's first name, with one true detail on every line.Angle: no line may call her nice. Say what she did last Tuesday instead.
Compare your mom to a kind of weather, a tree and a piece of furniture, and explain all three as a Mother's Day gift.Angle: the explaining is the gift. Put because in every sentence.
Describe your mom getting everyone out the door, step by step, as a sports announcer would call it.First line: She has the keys. She does not have the keys. She has the keys.
Describe your mom laughing, from the first sound to the last, so a stranger could pick her out of a crowd.Angle: what sets it off, how long it lasts, who she grabs hold of.
Describe your mom's voice four ways: on the phone, in the car, at bedtime and calling you from another room.Angle: say what changes each time. The speed, the loudness, the name she uses for you.
Find a photo of your mom from before you knew her, and write what she was about to do next.Angle: her hair, her shoes, who is beside her, and what is still the same about her.
For Mother's Day, write a wanted poster for your mom: wanted for what, last seen where, and the reward.First line: Wanted: for singing the wrong words on purpose, loudly, in the car.
Give your mother a six-line portrait in which every line begins She is the one who.First line: She is the one who knows where the tape is.
Make a list poem called Things My Mom Carries and hand it to her on Mother's Day.First line: A phone at nine percent, my jacket, everybody's snacks.
Paint your mother in words at the place where she is most herself: a garden, a desk, a stove, a driver's seat.Angle: what is within her reach, what she is looking at, what she says when you walk in.
Put your mother's portrait in three colors, and say where each one shows up on her or around her.Angle: a coat, a mug, the car, the one color she will not wear.
Tell your mom's portrait the way the family pet would, to read aloud on Mother's Day.First line: She is the one with the can opener, and I would follow her anywhere.
Write a portrait of your mom in ten details and no describing words, for Mother's Day.Angle: her keys, her laugh, her side of the couch. Things she has and does, not words like kind.
Write a portrait of your mom through her favorites: the song she turns up, the mug she picks, the seat she takes.Angle: guess the reason for each, then ask her and write down what she says.
Write your mom's portrait as a field guide entry: where she is found, her calls, and how to spot her from far off.First line: Most often seen by the back door with one shoe on, looking for the other.
A day she remembers 15
Ask your mom about a day she won something or came in last, and write it as a sports report for Mother's Day.First line: Nobody in the gym expected much from the girl in lane four.
Ask your mom about a time she got lost, and write the day as an adventure with her as the explorer.Angle: where she meant to go, where she ended up, who helped her back.
Ask your mom about a trip she took before you came along, and write its best day as a postcard from her.First line: You will not believe what we ate for breakfast here.
Ask your mom about her first day at a new school or a new job, and write it as a story with her as the hero.Angle: what she wore, who spoke to her first, what she was worried about.
Ask your mom about the street she grew up on, and write one summer evening there the way she tells it.Angle: who was outside, what they played, the call that meant come in.
Ask your mom what she remembers about the day she first met you, and write it down in her own words.Angle: the weather, who else was there, the first thing she noticed about you.
Ask your mom which day she would live again exactly as it was, and write it from morning to night as her Mother's Day gift.Angle: change nothing. Even the weather stays.
Ask your mother about the day she moved to a new home, and tell it from the point of view of one box.First line: I was the box marked kitchen, and I was not full of kitchen things.
Find out about a day your mom was braver than she felt, and write it so the brave part comes last.Angle: a stage, a high diving board, a first phone call in a new language.
Find out what your mom collected as a girl, or wished she could, and write the story of the best thing in it.Angle: stickers, shells, bottle caps. Where she kept them and where they are now.
Get your mom to tell you about the first thing she ever cooked by herself, and write the scene in that kitchen.Angle: who it was for, what went wrong, whether anyone ate it.
Get your mother to tell you about a present she still remembers, and write the minute she opened it.Angle: who gave it, what the paper looked like, where the present is now.
Have your mom describe the room she slept in as a girl, and write a guided tour of it.Angle: what was on the wall, what was under the bed, what she could hear at night.
Interview your mother about a snow day, a storm or a night with no power when she was small, and write what the house was like.Angle: candles, board games, what they ate, who was thrilled.
Interview your mother about the day she learned to swim, skate or drive, and write it up for her to keep.Angle: who was teaching, what went wrong, the moment it worked.
A thank-you letter 15
End a Mother's Day letter to your mom with a P.S. that runs longer than the letter.First line: P.S. Also the time with the bee.
For Mother's Day, write a letter thanking your mom for a rule you used to hate.Angle: say the rule, the day you broke it, and what you think of it now.
Give your mom a thank-you letter for a question she answered while she was busy with something else.Angle: what you asked, what she was in the middle of, how good the answer was.
In a Mother's Day letter, thank your mom for one thing she gave up so that you could have something.Angle: a seat, a Saturday, the last slice. Say what you got and what she did instead.
Thank your mom in a letter for a night she stayed up with you: why you were both awake and what the morning was like.Angle: a thunderstorm, a project due at eight, a tooth that would not come out.
Thank your mom, in a letter, for a lunch she packed: what was in it, the note or the napkin, and the part you saved for last.First line: I ate around the orange slices so they would be the end.
Thank your mom, in a letter, for a time she said no and turned out to be right.First line: I was angry about the sleepover for a week. I am over it now.
Thank your mother, in a letter, for something she found after everyone else had stopped looking.Angle: a library book, a mitten, the other skate. Say where it was all along.
Use two colors of ink for a thank-you letter to your mom: one for this week and one for years ago.Angle: the old ink wins if she has forgotten doing it.
Write a Mother's Day thank-you letter for one ride in the car: where you were going and what you talked about.First line: Thank you for the forty minutes to the tournament and the forty back.
Write a Mother's Day thank-you letter from the whole household, one line in each voice.Angle: the baby, the dog and the houseplants get a line too.
Write a thank-you letter to your mom from yourself as a baby, who could not say it at the time.First line: I know I screamed. What I meant was thank you.
Write your mom a thank-you letter about one day she has probably forgotten and you have not.First line: You will not remember the day of the flat tire, but I do.
Write your mom a thank-you letter for coming to get you, one time she turned up early, late or just in time.First line: I saw the car turn in, and I have never been so glad of a car.
Write your mom a thank-you letter that is also an apology, and keep the apology to one sentence.First line: Thank you for the blue vase, and I am sorry about the blue vase.
Someone who mothers 15
Advertise the job done by the person who mothers you, as a Mother's Day joke with the truth in it.First line: Hours: all of them. Must know every name in the class.
Draw a Mother's Day portrait, in words, of a neighbor who keeps an eye on every kid on the street.Angle: her porch, her rules, what she calls out when a ball rolls into the road.
Make a list called Things You Do That Moms Do, for someone who would never call herself your mom.Angle: an aunt, a sitter, a big sister. Number the list and read it to her.
Make a Mother's Day list for a foster mom or a guardian: ten small things she got right about you without being told.Angle: the night-light, the crusts, which cup is yours.
Pick the person who mothers you and write her a Mother's Day card that never uses the word mother or mom.Angle: use her name or what you call her, and say what she does.
Tell a teacher, a coach or a librarian who mothers a whole room of kids one thing she did for you without noticing.First line: You saved me a seat in September, and I never said.
Tell the story of how someone who is not your mother came to mother you: a godmother, a family friend, a friend's mom.Angle: the first day, the first meal at her table, the day you got your own coat hook.
Thank an older sister or a cousin who looks after you like a mom when the grown-ups are busy.First line: You are only fifteen and you already do the voice.
Write a Mother's Day letter to a stepmom about the first thing the two of you ever laughed at together.First line: I did not plan to laugh, and then the pancake landed on the dog.
Write a Mother's Day letter to someone who mothered you and is far away now, telling her about your week.Angle: keep it ordinary. What you ate, what you learned, what would make her laugh.
Write a Mother's Day message to a mom who is new to your family this year: a welcome, a warning and a promise.Angle: the warning is funny. The promise is one you can keep by Friday.
Write a Mother's Day note to a grandmother who helps raise you, about the one job she lets nobody else do.Angle: braiding hair, checking homework, walking you to the corner.
Write about a dad, a grandpa or an uncle who does the mothering where you live, for Mother's Day.Angle: the lunches, the hair, the forms to sign. Say which one he is best at.
Write about an aunt who mothers you from far away: what comes in the mail, what she asks on the phone, the date she never forgets.Angle: say which date it is, and how you know she has it written down.
You have two moms, or a mom and a stepmom: write one Mother's Day page that is fair to both.Angle: give each one a thing only she does. Then one thing they both do.
How it works
These Mother's Day writing prompts are for a child to write and a mother to keep. A quarter of them are for a grandmother, a stepmom, an aunt or anyone else who does the mothering.
Read the full guide
Writing prompts for Mother's Day that begin with a question
Fifteen prompts send the writer to ask her first. What was the first thing she ever cooked by herself? What did she collect as a girl? When did she get lost? The answer is written up with her as the hero, and the page goes back to her.
Mother's Day story ideas
For a made-up story, borrow a teller. One prompt has the family pet describe her, one tells her moving day from inside a box marked kitchen, and one lets the writer speak as a baby who could not yet say thank you.
Read the finished page aloud to her before handing it over.
If a prompt says mom and yours is a grandma or an aunt, change the word and keep the prompt.
Questions and answers
What are good writing prompts for Mother's Day?
Ones that end in a page she can keep. Describe her laughing so a stranger could pick her out of a crowd, thank her for a rule you used to hate, or write up a day she won something as a sports report.
When is Mother's Day?
In the United States it is the second Sunday in May. Congress set the date in a law of 1914, and Canada keeps the same Sunday.
Is there a Mother's Day writing prompt for a child whose mom is not at home?
Fifteen of them, in the group Someone who mothers. One is a list called Things You Do That Moms Do, for someone who would never call herself your mom. Another is a card that never uses the word mother.
What can a child write in a Mother's Day card?
One small, true thing. A thank-you for a lunch she packed, with the note or the napkin and the part saved for last, says more than a line about the best mom in the world.