
Planning for the return to work after maternity leave is difficult. It is hard on you mentally and physically. If you’re in the United States, you definitely did not get enough time to snuggle and tend to your baby, let alone take care of yourself to heal as well. One of the most important things you can do when returning to work after maternity leave is to gather all the no prep lessons and activities that you can find. In this blog post, you’ll find some of my favorite no prep lessons when returning to work after maternity leave.
There are many freebies in this post, so make sure to read each part!
Make sure to read this post for more ideas for returning to work after maternity leave.
#1: No Prep Monthly “Grin And Plan It”

Our Grin and Plan It is a popular, free set of pages that you can use throughout the year. They are housed in our free resource library and they’re designed to help you out in a pinch. My intention for creating the monthly “Grin And Plan It” pages were to help teachers, just like you, who need those last minute pages. These no prep sheets include phonics, reading comprehension, writing, and math. There’s just enough to plan for throughout a few days.
You can click here to sign up for access to our free resource library to access these monthly pages.
#2: Independent Math Games

Independent math games are a fun, engaging, and somewhat quiet way to introduce and review math concepts. Are your students super loud when playing math games? Don’t worry- these are independent. Yes, they play individually. I know it does not sound like a game, but trust me… They’re fun!
Students either roll a die or spin a spinner to play.
You can get a free Fractions set right here!
Other math concepts included in our independent math games are:
- addition
- subtraction
- telling time
- place value
- shapes
How to get our independent math games:
Find them on Missing Tooth Grins here.
#3: Monthly Math Journals

Monthly math journals are a great way for you to ease back into teaching. These journals are easy to prep- just run through the copier and staple. You can put them in any order you need to to review the concepts your students may have learned with the sub while you were on maternity leave. Each math journal is spiraled to keep your students in a routine and to continuously review the math content.
See monthly math journals on TPT here.
See monthly math journals on Missing Tooth Grins here.
#4: Write About What The Teacher Did On Maternity Leave

Who doesn’t love a fun writing prompt? Have your students write about what they think you did on maternity leave! These answers could be priceless! I picture a lot of big brothers and sisters knowing exactly what you did, but those younger brothers and sisters? This could get comical!
Click here to print your free writing pages.
#5: STEM Challenge

I wrote about this ideas in this blog post, but it is worth mentioning here as well. This was a great first day back activity that I did with my class after I had my second son. I printed small pictures of Grayson and brought in craft sticks and craft match sticks. I put my students in groups of two and told them to build a crib for Grayson to lay in. They were allowed to use glue, tape, playdough, etc. to build their cribs. In the end, we shared the cribs with one another and voted on which one looked the safest for Baby G.
Share What You Did Below!
Have something fun that you did when returning to work after maternity leave? Or just want to comment with words of wisdom for new moms who will read this blog post? Comment below to share your encouraging thoughts.
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