Story Time with V & Me - Hair Love

Welcome to Story Time with V & Me!

Wasn't that a sweet story?

I love that Daddy was prepared to do his daughter's hair eventhough he wasn't really sure how to do it. It teaches the children to try and try again.

With Father's Day next weekend, let's look at some fun things you can do with your children to help celebrate their wonderful dads.

1) Cook a Big Fry UP

<a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/traditional-full-english-breakfast-with-fried-eggs-sausage-tomato-beans-toast-bacon-plate_13012895.htm#query=english%20breakfast&position=45&from_view=search&track=ais">Image by jcomp</a> on Freepik

Most Daddies love a big fry up breakfast or brunch, so why not get the kids involved and surprise Daddy with one on Father's Day.

Depending on the age of your children you can have them performing various tasks, like setting the table for the youngest to buttering toast for the older kids. You can have them fetching ingredients; stirring eggs for scrambled eggs or stirring pancake/waffle batter; chopping mushrooms, tomatoes or bananas (carefully with a child friendly knife, please!) and picking flowers from the garden for a pretty table centrepiece.

The more the children can get involved the better as they then have a feeling of accomplishment and pride in what they present to Dad - and they have learnt something from every single thing they did - BONUS!

2a) Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

- Using Paint

This is a lovely simple activity that all ages can do.

Give your children a large sheet of blank paper, some paints in complementing colours, some shapes to use as stamps (or make some out of potatoes or kitchen sponges) and allow them to fill the paper with their creations.

It does not matter what they paint/print.

Our job is to provide them with a variety of resources that they might want to use, presented in an appealing way. We then need to step back and allow them the freedom to create and express themselves in whatever way they choose fit.

Remember to protect your surfaces and also their clothes with an art apron or old shirt.

Once their creation is dry they can use it to wrap Daddy's present.

2b) Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

- Using Food Colouring

This is better for a slightly older child who knows how to blow through a straw.

Give your child a blank piece of paper, some straws and premixed coloured water with dish soap added. The quantity of dish soap and food colouring is best determined through trial and error. There needs to be enough dish soap so that bubbles form easily when you blow into the straw and they need to be able to build a decent head of bubbles that grow above the rim of the container, ie a fair amount of dish soap is needed. As for the food colouring, that depends on how dark/vivid you want the colours to be.

Show your child how to blow through the straw in the coloured water, reminding them to take their mouth off the straw when they need to breathe in! Too many times the little ones forget and then end up with a mouthful of soapy coloured water!

Once you have a decent bunch of bubbles above the rim of your container, carefully lower your paper onto the bubbles. As they pop the coloured water leaves a beautiful pattern on the paper.

Do these steps over and over until the paper is covered in bubble patterns. Leave to dry and then use it to wrap Daddy's present.

3) Make a Card

An example of a craft invitation.

A card one of our twins made

of Daddy (0n left) & her.

Even if your family doesn't do gifts for Father's Day, I am sure Daddy would appreciate a card made especially for him, by his children.

It does not need to be perfect, grand or elaborate. It just needs to be their own work.

Again our role as adults is to simply provide the resources in an appealing, user friendly way and give them the space and time to create whatever they want.

The older children can write their own message inside. For the slightly younger, we can scribe their message onto a separate piece of paper and let them copy it onto their card. For the even younger, you write the message and they write their name (even if it is just a squiggle).

All this crafting and mark making, strengthens the hand for future writing, improves hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.

As an added bonus, Dad gets a lovely keepsake :)

4) Pack a Picnic

Spending some quality time together in the sunshine is the best kind of activity for the whole family. Pack a ball or frisbee, some games and a large picnic mat and head off somewhere nice just to relax and unwind.

Let the children help you make sandwiches, choose the fruit and snacks and pack the picnic basket. Don't forget drinks, sun cream, hats and sunglasses and enjoy your day outdoors. Nature has been proven to be a great stress reliever so take advantage of the wonderful weather and have a family picnic.

You could also invite extended family and friends and make it into a real social occasion if Daddy would enjoy it. Just remember it is his day!

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful Dads.

We truly appreciate you :)