If my love for Dad could grow, I would ...

During our group discussion, we invite ourselves to think of poetry lines If my love for Dad could grow, I would ... in crafting our expressions of love toward Dads. Nora, eloquently phrases her collective of thoughts in a rhythmic expression of her Dad. 

Daddy sometimes gets frustrated
Daddy sometimes feels nervous
Daddy sometimes gets tired
Daddy sometimes feels sad.

How true the above verbal expression is! Poetry allows us to compile a creative expression that centers around complex feelings and experiences. Poetry helps us appreciate ideas through figurative language and gain a deeper understanding of stories around own life experiences. By providing a window into the thoughts, poetry has the power to increase empathy and provide a new perspective of the human experience.

This is the another song for Daddy that we attempt to explore creating rap with music. Coming up with lines that rhyme and even provides opportunities to learn about poetry!

Daddy, daddy, let me say
I love you in every way
I love you for all you do
I love you for being you
Daddy, daddy, let me say 
Have a Happy Father's Day!

Setting-up this learning experience for our own aspiring engineers and STEM explorers is as exciting as raiding our toolbox. It gives us an opportunity to develop our fine-motor skills when we twist and turn and pinch the nuts and bolts. 

When we grasp the nuts and bolts, we use our eye-hand coordination to place the right-sized nut onto the right-sized bolt. As we practice the twisting motion that is required to rotate a nut onto a bolt, we are improving our grip and developing our bilateral coordination as we use both hands to work on a task at once.

Throughout the whole process an atmosphere of calm concentration and determination that fills the room as we problem-solve.

When we slow down to work through a challenge like this, we lengthen our attention spans, sharpen our focusing skills and develop perseverance when frustration sets in.

A lot of conversation takes place during this process such as Does it fit? Is this correct to turn it this way? By giving us an opportunity to work with actual tools we also give ourselves access to real-world experiences.

 As much as we develop our understanding on the carbon dioxide produced from breathing, we extend it to an art learning experience. We add a solution of bubbles into our watercolor paint. Prior to the experience, we practice blowing our CO2 onto a piece of a photo paper. We do go through the hygienic and safety elements such as we need to ensure there is a distance from the pile of bubbles and our mouth. 

Once the blowing experience takes place, our excitement escalates. We lay our photo paper under the pile of bubbles to create the imprint. We repeat the process over and over with different colored bubbles until we are satisfied with the outcome. Love it! We actually do not stop there ... once the paint dries-up, we transfer our above verbal expressions, collected during our group discussion, onto gifts for our precious Dads.

It is now the time to experience the joy of tie-dyeing! It is a fun and creative learning experience. Not only it is an opportunity to create something beautiful, but it also enables us to understand the concept of contrast. Along the way we discover a strategy to be applied onto different color and pattern backgrounds - dark on bright surface and vice versa.

Tie-dying involves folding, tying, or crumpling fabrics, then applying dye. While doing this, we stimulate both sides of our brains. Not just that, we become more aware of the different hues in our surroundings and learn how to create our desired shades and designs. 

- Brooks - ​​

Some friends express further our love for Daddy through representational drawings. As we explore our emotions through art, we may gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our emotional experiences.

- Lukah -

- Margo - 

Singing a song for our Daddy, together with friends, builds our listening skills as well as paying attention to the action parts that come with it. 

Happy Father's Day (3x)
I love you
Here is a kiss and a hug for you
Thank you Daddy for all you do
Happy Father's Day (3x)
​I love you

Wishing all the wonderful Fathers a very Happy Father's Day!!

Kindest,
Children & Friends.