Mother’s Day Cookbook Freebie

As Mother’s Day draws near, it’s the perfect time to celebrate the boundless creativity and love of our little ones. That’s why I’m thrilled to share an adorable and heartwarming resource available on TPT: a Mother’s Day Cookbook crafted by kindergarten students!

Filled with charming and often hilarious recipes dreamed up by our youngest chefs, this cookbook is more than just a collection of dishes—it’s a precious keepsake that parents will treasure for years to come.

Mother's Day Cookbook title page and recipe page

Collecting Recipes for the Mother’s Day Cookbook

When I do this project in class, I interview the students one at a time. Some of them jump right into telling me how to make something and others are a little more reluctant (or realistic : ) Some kids are like – listen lady, I’m 5 and I don’t know how to cook! Other kids are brimming with confidence and knowledge about how to do everything.

For the more reluctant/realistic students, I ask them what their favorite meal is, and I then ask how they think their parent/grandparent/guardian cooks it.

I ask them what ingredients go in it to start. Make sure to ask them how much they need of each ingredient. Their answers are hilarious! Sometimes through the course of explaining the recipe, we go back and add ingredients to the list. As the student lists off procedures I have my laptop open and just write what they say WORD FOR WORD. That’s the best part!

My favorite instruction: “Then my mom tastes the soup to make sure it’s not poison!”

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Don’t forget to ask for the name of the recipe, how long the recipe needs to cook, and the serving size! The key to getting good responses out of the students is to take their instructions 100% seriously.

They might start their recipe a little unsure. When you nod, record their answers, and take their instructions seriously, the words really start flowing. Some kids actually know their way around the kitchen!

Making the Mother’s Day Cookbook

During distance learning, I made as many elements editable as I could, So when you download this resource you will find both a PowerPoint version and a Google Drive version.

I tried to make it versatile as well depending on how much time you wanted to invest in the project. You can just do the recipe page or add on the little chef’s bio page as well.

When I did this project, I would always bring in an apron, chef’s hat, and a wooden spoon and have the students take turns dressing up. If you don’t do the chef’s bio page you can just include a small picture of each chef on the recipe page if you want to.

For distance learning, you could have the students send you a screenshot. You could add a chef’s hat in a photo editing app or Canva if you wanted to get fancy.

You can send the Mother’s Day cookbook to parents digitally or you can have it printed and bound. In years past I’ve printed the pages at school and then done the fancy 3-hole punch tied with yarn approach.

I’m not going to lie, this is a time-consuming project, but the parents LOVE it! I have parents come back years later and talk to me about the Mother’s Day cookbook and how they still have it. This makes me feel good about spending the time and effort to put it together.