5 Fantastic Father’s Day Ideas!

Father's Day!

Fantastic Father’s Day Ideas!

 

We’re OFFICIALLY 6 days away from Father’s Day! While this day takes on different meanings for everyone, the act of celebrating/commemorating that remarkable guy in your life is what Sunday is all about! Whoever you celebrate on this glorious day, we’ve captured five of the best ideas, (with a “smaller is better” theme in mind), to help you show some major love this Father’s Day (minus the tie…unless he likes that sort of thing!). 

Plan Some Downtime-Pressure Free

Does the dad in your life work a ton? ALWAYS on the go? Planning an outing complete with an amazing dinner may seem like a good plan to you, but remember, this is really about him. Father’s Day is really about letting him decide what he would like to do…minus the pressure. Hanging out at home may be just the ticket to a truly awesome Dad’s Day.

Here are a few “down” time ideas that are pretty simple but may help make it the best Dad’s Day-Ever:

  • Let him sleep in! 
  • Surprise him with breakfast and coffee first thing
  • Backyard games from baseball to horseshoes…he picks it!
  • Biking or taking a leisurely walk in the neighborhood

Awesome Activities that Aim to Please! 

For some, a perfect balance of downtime mixed with an outing is the best dad’s day combo anyone could ask for. Here are some ideas that can include the kiddos if you have them in tow:

  • Visit a local brewery! With craft beer gaining some major popularity lately, breweries seem to be popping up all over the place! Aside from serving up some pretty amazing beer and atmosphere, most have incorporated full on restaurants or even food trucks!  Dad can drink, kids can eat…win, win! 
  • Go for a Hike!  There are so many spots you can explore in your very own backyard! 
  • Go Deep Sea Fishing! Has the dad in your life ever wanted to try his hand at fishing out on a boat in the ocean? there are several charters that go out for half or full day adventures. This may be just the thing your special guy would want to try! 
  • Get Sporty! Do you have an avid baseball or soccer fan? Grab a pair of tickets to a professional or semi pro game to celebrate the day! Another idea-even if your dad’s favorite team is out of town on Father’s Day, you can always schedule a tour of the stadium or visit a local sports museum! 

 It’s often the smallest things that make the biggest impact–spending time together and reminding dad or your special guy just how much you love him is most important of all!

Getting Crafty: 

If you have younger kiddos at home, you can plan a low-key crafty activities with dad that’s sure to please both him and your kiddos.

  • Take home pottery to paint: Instead of handing dad a new coffee mug, why not have the kiddos and he paint them together in the comfort of home? Many pottery painting places have the option of taking your pottery home to paint it and then you can bring it back to have it “fired”. Pretty awesome-and not too expensive! 
  • Handprint Wall Sign - Gorgeous handprint project for your home!

      Handprint Wall Sign! Courtesy of theidearoom.net

Handprint memories: This simplistic and inexpensive handprint wall sign is an adorable keepsake and an awesome addition to your home décor! Plus, it makes a fun Father’s Day activity for everyone to create together!  I know we’ll be diving into this one on Sunday! 

 

Looking for a fun Father's Day craft your kids can make? I've got exactly what you're looking for right here! Dad will love it!

Create Adorable Cards:

You don’t have to create these amazingly simple, yet darling cards ahead of time! The card pictured above is from homeschoolpreschool.net and is a FREE downloadable with easy steps! Kiddos can create this card or any others WITH dad right on Sunday (eliminates the stress of planning with so little time left and it includes Dad in on the fun! ) https://homeschoolpreschool.net/fathers-day-craft/ 

Here’s some quick links to materials you might find useful when creating some adorable Father’s Day cards/painting: 

                                                  

Remind Him Why He’s So Amazing:

While this seems pretty obvious, I’ve  caught myself  forgetting to pause on this one. Let’s face it, the day can slip by (especially if you have little ones or a busy schedule) and sometimes we forget to stop and grab dad by the hand to let him know how you feel. Cards, outings and activities are all wonderful but sometime set aside while the littles are napping or when you have a moment alone to simply let him know why he’s so great can make a good day into an amazingly meaningful celebration. 

Spending Time Together: 

However your dad or special guy wants to celebrate his day, remember that the time spent together and focusing on your family is immeasurable. Anything from breakfast to a movie or story time at night, each moment shared is another memory to cherish. Just make certain that it’s time spent TOGETHER. It’s super easy to get sidetracked with the numerous items on always looming to-do lists-especially when it’s a Sunday. Our father’s Day tradition usually takes my husband out with my father-in-law and kiddos early in the morning on the golf course. I later meet up with them for breakfast/brunch on the golf course. We usually go home and hang out…which is perfect for my husband. A great balance of seeing his dad mixed with the littles. All while TOTALLY ignoring the five zillion things that need to get done at the house. It’s awesome-for everyone.  Whatever or wherever your Father’s Day takes you, remember:  snap lots of pictures together, steer clear of the “to-do” lists and make it about being together. 

Keeping it All So Simple: 

 

Whether this is his first “rodeo” or it’s his 20th Father’s Day, keep these key ideas in mind:

  • Keep the day about him-his choice- ALL day!
  • Remember to share some love by reminding him why he’s so amazing. 
  • Let him choose one activity or five! It’s his day.
  • Get crafty with a family based activity that doubles as an awesome keepsake.
  • Spending time together-YOUR time is what makes this day amazing. Skip the to-do lists.

 

Excellent Easter & Spring Crafts!

 

Easter and Spring

Spring has sprung!

It’s official, spring is here! While Mother Nature may be singing a different tune, (hello New England snow), yesterday officially marked the first day of a new season and with it, of course, comes new crafting, learning and decorating opportunities-YAY! I absolutely LOVE decorating for a new season or holiday…and the BEST part is…so do the kiddos! I use every opportunity imaginable to let our kids change over the décor in the house in celebration for the newest season. They love making crafts, looking through bins to find crafts from the year prior, and finding new ideas to create items for the house! Honestly, kids are so super creative, that I’ve learned to let go of my “gotta control the perfection” bit in lieu of adorable kid décor. IT’s amazing! Our kids get so excited to see their art work or crafts adorned all over our house; it’s super fun!

In preparation for this season of “newness”, we’ve located some amazing crafting/learning opportunities (that double as awesome decorating ideas) to share with all of you (double YAY!)

Whether you celebrate Easter, Passover or the entering of a new season, we have you covered with five of the most adorable ways to teach, celebrate and decorate the start of this awesome, new season.

Easy-Peasy Foam Eggs

Easter and Spring Crafts!

Easter and Spring Crafts! Foam Eggs-created by your littles!

Want an adorable way to celebrate Easter and spring? Try creating eggs using foam pieces or find a kit with all of the goodies already created for you! Here are some fun ways to create AND decorate:

What you will need: (affiliate links below)

        • Foam pieces to cut out the egg shapes
        • Glue sticks
        • Cute Foam Shapes such as these:

IF you’re super short on time or just excited to dive in and leave some of the cutting to someone else–here’s another option for you (this is exactly the one I purchased last year–it lasted me until this year!)

Here are two other kits that come with everything you want to create and decorate:

 

From there we just got down to decorating our eggs! We made a wreath and used extra eggs to make a decorative banner above our plain cabinets! So fun!

Excellent Easter/Spring Crafts!

Decorate for Easter and Sprig

Spring-up those boring spaces with kid art!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why We LOVE this

Why We Love This: A Plethora of Teachable Moments

 

  • Builds fine motor development for littles learning how to use scissors or apply intricate, decorative pieces.
  • Offers the chance to for children to express creativity (check out the “flying egg featured above left).
  • If teaching colors, it provides a great sounding board to discuss the different colored eggs.
  • If teaching counting, how may eggs do you see? How many green eggs? Yellow eggs?
  • Teaching patterns-use different designs to create patterns such as: polka dots, lines, polka dots, lines.
  • Discuss/show animals that hatch from eggs (chickens, snakes, other birds, turtles).

More adorable crafts: for Easter or Spring–Whatever your Thing!

 

Peek-a-boo Clothespin Eggs from One Little Project at a Time:

How cute are these? One Little Project gives an easy tutorial for creating these adorable eggs!

Want to check out this tutorial? Here’s the link! http://onelittleproject.com/peekaboo-clothespin-eggs/

Peek-a-boo Clothespin Eggs

These peekaboo clothespin eggs are so easy to make and they look SO CUTE! Each one takes less than 5 minutes to make and they look adorable! They're an awesome low mess craft idea and are such an adorable Easter craft idea!! My kids loved seeing the surprise chick inside the egg!

peekaboo eggs from:http://onelittleproject.com/peekaboo-clothespin-eggs/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science and art fun with coffee filter flowers

 

Science meets Art and Spring:

Coffee-Filter Flower Water Color Craft!

Awesome idea found on fun-a-day: https://fun-a-day.com/colorful-science-and-art-experiment-for-spring/#comment-179649

Two years ago, I explored the concept of chromatography with our, then, four year old budding scientist. Flash-forward two years later and she ABSOLUTELY can’t get enough of science or chemistry! You can bet this project from fun-a-day is on our list this week!

This great project combines art and science all within an AWESOME spring theme! Exploring color and how they combine to create other colors is just one awesome learning tool that you can go over with even your littlest of learners!

Why We LOVE this

Why We Love This:

The combined learning, hands-on fun! Fun-A-Day breaks down other learning possibilities with this such as:

  • Color absorption (rates of absorption)
  • Saturation
  • Fine Motor Skill Practice-using eye droppers

Other awesome reasons to love this crafty learning experience:

  • Accessible to younger learners–I’m not afraid to try this with our three-year old!
  • Can be easily modified for older budding scientists.
  • Simple to access supplies! I’m actually trying food coloring with this first, then the watercolors!

 

 Catch that Caterpillar Craft!

15 Very Hungry Caterpillar Crafts for Kids

Adorable clothes pin caterpillar found on teachingmama.org can be created after reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar, (affiliate link below) by Eric Carle, or you can create your own multi-colored caterpillar using a clothespin! (more to come here!)

 

Colorful Coffee Filter Butterflies!

Find this fun idea on Honey & Lime: http://www.honeyandlime.co/2012/03/spring-crafts-for-kids-coffee-filter-butterfly-craft.html

Yes…I’m one of those peop that if I have already bought coffee filters for one fun project, why not keep it going? What’s spring without a mini-lesson on metamorphosis? Well-stay-tuned! Aside from this adorable craft from Honey & Lime below, we have a book recommendations and a way to take this spring learning experience to the next level!

This adorable craft can be created on a separate day as your caterpillar craft or on the same day!

All you really need to transform a caterpillar into a butterfly can be found on Honey and Lime! White coffee filters, paint and pipe cleaners!

Wrapping it Up:

For these spring-inspired ideas, our kiddos took center stage! Most of these ideas are Pinterest inspired but instead of searching, you can always stop by here to grab some quick go-to ideas (rather than searching yourself!). All of these crafts are great to use for learning, crafting, and decorating–a win, win, WIN in my book any day! Stay tuned for some add on ideas to the caterpillar theme!