Originally Posted by
Maza
I actually don't celebrate Mother's/Father's Day because I think it is for the children to do with the other parent. Obviously if the older ones want to make something at mine then I'm more than happy to let them use any resources they need. If it was a single parent family then I would plan something.
I am with you on the footprint/handprint thing - it's a huge bugbear of mine. I hated it when my daughter came home from her nursery with a 'Rudolf with handprint antlers'. I just think of all the precious adult time wasted on cutting out 30 pairs of handprints. The TA would have been better using that time hearing readers, or reading a non-fiction book on reindeer to the children.
I will be doing Valentine type of activities but I hope that I have focused on the child and possible LOs rather than a fancy piece of craft that I complete most of so that they all look identical. I will have a sensory tub (hearts of different textures/weights/properties in general, some shiny, some glittery, some matt), silk rose petals etc. Heart shaped measuring spoons and containers for scooping and transferring (Sorry FloraDora, you must be gagging right now, lol). My two and three year olds will be working on repeating patterns and 1-1 correspondence by counting out the different hearts etc., 6 year old will be doing some volume/capacity work with hearts and there will be heart shaped paper as an alternative to the rectangular paper we usually use - what they do on it is up to them! We will be doing various art techniques with a heart theme and probably eat heart shaped food. I know my DD really looks forward to it every year and if I'm honest I think it just makes the planning a bit more fun on my part. Yes, I could use pebbles and pinecones for the maths work like we usually do, but I don't want to, I want to use pretty hearts for a week!
I do agree though that some people do overdo festivals by trying to mark every single one and think that an adult led perfect craft is the way to do it. xxx