Lucy & James Catchpole

Free Mama Car lesson plans | Wheelchairs, disability & joy

Teaching resources | Ages 3 to 11+ | EYFS, KS1, KS2 + | Colouring

From author and wheelchair user Lucy Catchpole, teacher Katie Renker

Below are example images – carry on down the page to download the pdfs. All illustrations are by Karen George.

  • Mama Car lesson plans: A4 pages spread out on a wooden background. On the left: titled 'Learning Resources Key Stage 1, 2 and above' with 5 pages behind it. On the right, titled 'Learning Resources EYFS-Year1 (ages 3-6), with 9 pages behind. Pages are fanned out, contents is not visible. In the centre, picture book Mama Car. Text below reads: 'Mama Car lesson plans'
  • Front cover of EYFS to Year 1 lesson plan. Title 'Learning Resources EYFS - Year 1 (ages 3-6). Mama Car provides a valuable opportunity to offer authentic, casual, first person, disabled representation. Created with the author'. Pale blue background, titles in red. A jpg of picture book Mama Car appears on the front.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Page 2 of lesson plan - 'Suggestion: Talk about members of their immediate family and community'. 2nd title: 'Suggestion: Name and describe people who are familiar to them'. Illustration of a white woman in her wheelchair next to a man with crutches and one leg'.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • p8 of the EYFS plan. Title: Reading Guide: Mama Car. Inside pages from Mama Car next to a script. Pages shown are p26-9 - the mother picking up the young child, and her nestling into her mother's lap.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • p9 Title: Vehicles Worksheet. Secondary titles: Mama Car, Tricycle, Big Car. Illustrations from the book show the mother with her child on her lap, the child rides her tricycle happily, and the family clean the family car together.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Front page of the lesson plan for older children: title reads - Key Stage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (ages 6 and up) - Created with the author. Image is of the cover of Mama Car, on a pale blue background.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Front page contd: Key Stage 1 (ages 6-8); Key Stage 2 (ages 9-11) Spotlight on Accessibility; Secondary School (ages 11+) Spotlight on media representation and public perception'
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Extract from a Key Stage 1 - age 6-8 - page: This is an opportunity to mention some of the many non- disability-specific tools used by all the characters in the story. � The little girl stands on a stool to reach the table � The family use a car to travel a bigger distance to the park � Daddy uses a bucket to hold the water to wash the car Help them make the connection that mobility aids are just tools disabled people use to make their lives easier. ‘What tools do you use every day to make your lives easier?’. Below, in a blue box: Extension: Challenge the class to think of a problem and design an invention to make their lives easier. Design success criteria around labelling, marketing, etc to suit your class and needs.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Extract from p3: Key Stage 2 (ages 9–11). Title: Spotlight on Accessibility. Text reads: The mother uses a wheelchair. The father uses crutches. The purpose of this particular story is NOT to highlight accessibility issues, but a wider conversation around disability may provide a great context to discuss some of these issues and build more aware, empathetic future citizens.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Extract from p4 - for age 11+ - Secondary age. Text reads: � Introduce the story: This time you are going to read a story for much younger children and try and guess why the author wanted to write this story.’ � Discuss what happens in the story: The author never really discusses disability or the role it plays, yet it has an important role in advocating for disabled people… How? � Challenge students to look at disability representation in the media and find some examples of good and poor representation.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Extract from page: Secondary School (age 11+). Text reads: Suggested watching and reading: - We the 15 (link) (teacher discretion and guidance suggested) - QR Code. - I love Channel 4's Paralympics advert. But we can't all be superhumans (link) - Lucy Catchpole, The Guardian. Text below continues: Suggested Activity: Make a table and categorise: - 'Positive' stories - Other people helping / heroism / saviourism (e.g a teen asking a disabled person to prom). - Exceptional feats: e.g Paralympians, big challenges, overinflating success 'DESPITE' disability. - 'Negative' stories - Benefit scroungers - Complaining / Accessibility issues - Charity / sympathy. - Neutral reporting - Representation of disabled people just doing normal things, their disability not being the focus or discussed in detail, eg Blue Peter / Newsround presenters
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page
  • Last page extract - bio. Text at top reads: See also: Lucy and James's list: Great books by disabled authors: children's and YA.
    Example images – download the full pdf further down the page

Mama Car is a picture book about a young child, her mother, and her mother’s wheelchair – an object of great love and comfort. I asked Katie Renker, a primary school teacher and wheelchair user, to create these lesson plans with me. We hope they’ll be used internationally, for age 3 right through primary school. We also have separate, UK specific curriculum documents for early years in England, Scotland & Wales.

New: now Mama Car is out in the US, we’ve put together teaching tips and colouring pages with publisher Little Brown, too.

On the one hand, Mama Car is just a happy story about a child and her mother. And for teachers simply looking to include a book with disabled characters at story-time, I hope it will be enjoyed like any other picture book. But it can be more than that, too.

This book has a clear purpose in providing representation for children with disabled parents – and for disabled children, imagining their own futures. But nobody exists apart from disability – we’re everywhere, if you look. Yet many children first encounter disability and wheelchairs in charity videos, or outdated books like Heidi. And wheelchairs still carry a heavy stigma.

Mama Car is a chance to introduce wheelchairs early – not in a sad charity montage, but as a normal, joyful part of daily life.

US Teaching Tips and Colouring Pages

Find UK colouring pages here.

Mama Car -Teaching Tips – normalizing disabiliyDownload
Mama Car – Wheelchair Coloring SheetDownload

UK age three to six: UK Early Years to Key Stage 1 (EYFS & Year 1)

This is the UK full lesson plan for the young ones – preschool to age 6 or so. Detailed documents for the English, Welsh and Scottish curricula at the end of the page.

Ages six to eleven plus | KS1, KS2 & KS3: Years 1 to 6, and secondary

Although this is a young picture book, Katie has also taken it from KS1 right up to secondary school – in the pdf below. For these older children, she used Mama Car as a starting point and introduced different sources – like video We The 15, and a Guardian article I wrote a few years ago about the Paralympics.

If you teach older children, you may also be interested in our teaching resources for Owning It: Our Disabled Childhoods, non-fiction for age nine and up.

Disability isn’t a monolith, but there is wide consensus – on language used, on common pitfalls. And it’s important that disabled people ourselves are the ones leading these discussions. Thank you for finding us!

Buying the book?

If you don’t yet have a copy of the book, it’ s available in most bookshops – and from Blackwell’s, who deliver internationally (postage included). We get an extra % from orders made through the links below, but no pressure.

Mama Car from Blackwell’s
Mama Car from UK Bookshop
Mama Car from US Bookshop
Mama Car from Amazon UK

I hope these plans are helpful. It’s been a lovely surprise to see so many teachers use the learning resources for James’s book What Happened to You? – it’ll be gratifying if these prove useful, too.

We’ve pulled together all our lesson plans and other learning resources for teachers – for all our books – in one place. Link just below.

Lesson plans for all our picture books

Some of our posts that might interest you – if you’ve got this far:

Happy reading!

– Lucy Catchpole

Lucy Catchpole holding Mama Car - in the garden with her wheelchair.

Mama Car is written by Lucy Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George, and published by Faber in the UK.

A US edition came out in autumn 2025, published by Little Brown.

Find more about all books by Lucy and James Catchpole here.

What Happened to You? You're So Amazing! Mama Car, Owning It: Our disabled childhoods, We've Got This: Essays by Disabled Parents, Going Viral. Books by Lucy & James Catchpole

Using Mama Car with the Early Years curriculum in England, Scotland & Wales

For UK teachers, Katie carefully considered the Early Years and equivalent curricula in England, Scotland, and Wales. I’ve sorted that into separate documents to download – below.

If you’re in England, the lesson plans cover EYFS, Key Stage One, Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three – going from age three, to Year 1 to 6, and beyond to secondary. But the documents below only engage with EYFS and Development Matters.

These are the UK colouring pages, designed by illustrator Karen George. They’re especially popular with 4 to 6 year olds, and include an expedition list.

(Are they identical to the US colouring sheets, but with the Faber logo instead of Little Brown? Maybe.)

Mama Car – colouring sheets – Lucy Catchpole – Karen GeorgeDownload
Mama Car colouring sheets - 2 colouring sheets from the picture book Mama Car on a wooden surface, next to a copy of the book. Sheet 1: Mama Car - a colouring sheet. The child sits on her mother's lap, in her manual wheelchair. Both look happy. Sheet 2: Colouring sheet. Expedition list - from Mama Car. Text reads 'expedition list' at the top, and 'banana! grapes! flowery bowl. bun! milk cup' next to each illustrated item.
What Happened to You? lesson plans
Owning It Lesson Plan jpgs, Owning It - a thick middle-grade book - in the middle. A4 sheets - lesson plan and slideshow - surround it. Bio photos of some of the authors are just visible.
You're So Amazing - UK and US editions, with the two lesson plans (EYFS and Year 1, and Years 2, 3 and 4.
Mama Car

One comment

Leave a reply to Mama Car - Words And Pictures Library Cancel reply