Theme Thursday: We Love Our Fathers!

Happy Father's Day! (Just a little bit late). Here's how we honored the great men in our lives at story time.

Song: Good Morning Dear Earth

Flannel: Little Mouse

Flannel: Alphabet Soup- DAD

Book: Just Like You by Emma Dodd

Flannel: Blue is the Lake

Finger Play: Big, Big, Big

Book: Mommy Loves Her Baby/Daddy Loves His Baby by Tara Jaye Morrow

Song: If You're Happy and You Know It

Song: Shake Your Sillies Out

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Flannel: The Trumpet Went Toot, Toot, Toot

Book: The Very Best Daddy of All by Marion Diane Bauer

Song: Turn Around from Getting to know Myself

Make and Take Craft: Father's Day Picture Frames*

Okay, so this was an intense craft, with a lot of prep and I'm having mixed feelings about it. I didn't prepare enough (I normally prep 20 crafts for anywhere between 14-18 kids, and for this story time everyone who has ever come to story time showed up) and it's not a particularly fun craft for the younger kids (anyone under 24 months). However, I couldn't stand the thought of doing another tie craft for Father's Day. I would highly recommend this for a smaller group or for one on one crafting with your child and I've included alternative instructions were appropriate.

Supplies:

-crayons

-paper clips

-masking tape

-glue stick

-poster board (shapes prepared beforehand)

- pattern shapes

Process: To prep the craft cut out as many pattern shapes as needed. Glue the DAD piece to the back in such a way that the tops of the Ds are not glued down and there's a little wiggle room to slide a picture in and out. See the picture below?

 Where there is red crayon is where you want to cover in glue stick. Once the glue dries you should be able to slide a piece of paper/photo that is 2.75 X 3.25 inches into the gap.

Let the child decorate the frame.

Alternatively, if you've planned ahead or are doing this at home and have the pictures that you want to use, you can have the child decorate the front and back piece separately before gluing the pictures onto the DAD piece and then gluing that whole thing to the backing piece. You won't be able to change the pictures this way, but it makes the assembly process a lot more straightforward.

To make the picture frame stand up, use masking tape to secure the smaller, inner loop of 2-3 large paper clips on the back. Pull back the big part of the paperclip down to a 90 degree angle.

Time: Way too freaking long. Prep took about 3 hours, all told, spread out over 3 days and the craft itself took about 20 minutes. With the exception of one 3 year old who worked on her frame for at least an hour. It was a true thing of beauty and I wish I had gotten a picture.

* This is an adaptation of the Martha Stewart craft found here. (But I think mine looks better, shhhhh, don't tell Martha.)