With Father’s Day approaching, here are some fun tips and educational activities to plan to maximize your quality time this summer and on your weekends.
Time flies! One day we’re planning our gifts for Mother’s Day and the next we’re already looking for inspiration for Father’s Day. Each year we find ourselves planning family activities and games for our preschoolers during the weekend. I put together a few tips that I found to be both helpful and fun as Father’s Day approaches once again.
-
A Time to be Together
-
Summer Activities for the Whole Family
-
Father’s Day with My Story Recordable Books
-
Family Time is Precious. Let’s Enjoy It!
A Time to be Together
Having preschoolers at home means I’m always trying to find inspiration for new activities. Between working on creative skills and playing board games, sometimes it feels like I’m running out of ideas! I still find time to commemorate and explain the important things to your kids.
Having summer activities for your kids is a must! It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan and games for your little ones.From board games to educational activities, or fun and interactive projects like My Story recordable books, here’s a list of my favorite things to do with my family.
Read until the end to find out about the best gift for Father’s Day!
Summer Activities for the Whole Family
The warm weather makes planning activities for kids a breeze! Of course our first choice will always be to play outdoors when possible. If the weather’s gray, I try to find a way to do educational activities where the kids are developing and growing their skills while we spend quality time together. What can this look like for you?
Playdough or Ooblek
Both Playdough and Ooblek are great fun and make for a family activity that is also an educational activity. Both playdough and Ooblek allow you to explain how different ingredients, when mixed together, create new substances with different properties that make them unique.
For Ooblek (cornstarch and water slime) you will need:
- One box of cornstarch
- Water
- Large Bowl
- Food Coloring
For Playdough you will need:
- Flour
- Salt
- Cream of Tartar
- Vegetable Oil
- Water
Follow the steps here to get fantastic and durable playdough for your kids!
Board Games
Board games are amazing! They can teach memory skills, colors, motor skills and more. If you are feeling crafty, you can always make your own board game as well. This may sound daunting but it really is simple. This is how I made the easiest board game ever!
- Draw out a 100 square grid on a large sheet of paper.
- Create a “snakes and ladders” type of set-up where some tiles take you up and others take you down.
- Create a theme for that game. For example, if your kids are into dinosaurs, make it a dinosaur-themed snakes and ladders where you run away from T-Rex’s and ride Pterodactyls to the higher squares. This can be done essentially with any subject your kids are excited about, making it extremely fun for them. It is also great for preschoolers because the game is simple and doesn’t require many pieces.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts are always a win-win situation. Need some ideas?
- Binoculars with toilet paper rolls and tape
- Wands made out of sticks from the bush and twine on the handles
- Walkie-talkies with two cups and a string
- Face masks with paper plates and elastic bands
- Paper planes are great for their motor skills and memory skills
Scavenger Hunt
Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? You can personalize this and make it a Father’s Day scavenger hunt or you can use a pre-made list from any of the numerous sources online.
Cali’s Books
Want to really give your kids something fun and exciting to do? Something that will test their memory skills, grow their motor skills and give you some quality time together?
Try Cali’s Books! There are a number of types of fun and interactive books for the whole family. There are Nursery Rhyme and Sound Books as well as Recordable Books for you to do with your kids!
My Story Recordable Books
My Story Recordable books make the best gifts for Father’s Day, but they’re also great for educational activities. You can use My Story Recordable Book as a tool to develop kids memory skills, while at the same time flexing their creative and imaginative muscles.
What could that look like?
- Use My Story Recordable Book as a way to record a story that your kids have made up. They can remember the important characters, the timeline of events in their story and how everything comes together in the end. In each one of the pages, they can draw or create their characters or events. They then record a small blurb (up to 45 seconds!) about what happened. Now onto the next page to continue with the fun! This activity for kids helps them develop their literacy as well as their memory and motor skills.
- My Story Book is also a fantastic place to store and preserve precious memories with Dad and the family! If you have a Polaroid (or print your favorite holiday pictures), you could snap photos of the kids. Have them record and describe what is happening in the photos with their own take on it. You could also get them to act out a story, photograph it and have them narrate it in their own words!
- How about you turning a scavenger hunt into a “forever memory” with the My Story Recordable Book? All you would need is some glue, some excited kids and a My Story Recordable Book. The items from the hunt that could be glued or fastened to the book could be inserted on separate pages and the kids could each take turns (or all at once… you know how that can be!) recording and explaining the adventure that led to the finding of each item. This can turn a fun event into a long-cherished memory that can be revisited and enjoyed again and again.
Family Time is Precious. Let’s Enjoy It!
Father’s Day gives us a great time to be together, be grateful and enjoy the blessings we have. It is essential to slow down and take some time to enjoy and be with family. The laughter, the tickles, the running and even the inevitable crying that comes with children is all precious and should be cherished. This Father’s Day, enjoy the weather, your family and your friends. Check out Cali’s Books to get your own My Story Recordable Books to make new memories today!