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Preschool Dads come, stay and play
By ABBY SLANKER
Canfield United Methodist Church Preschool celebrated the school’s annual Daddy’s Play Day April 20 by taking time to just play with their dads. The students invited their dads to come play with them at the school and experience what a day at school is like for their children.
The school offers three classes: a 3-year-old class with lead teacher Monica Egolf, a 4-year-old class with lead teacher Ellen Bennett and a five-year-old class with lead teacher Erin Glista. Each class had a scheduled time of an hour to play and have fun with their dads at the school, and even have a snack of ice cream.
Stations were set up throughout the classroom where the students and their dads could choose to draw on easels together, pretend play at the doctor’s office, play at the light table, build with blocks or read a book together.
Prior to the big day, students made invitations for their dads with all the details of the special day. In preparation of their visiting dads, the students also made name tags for their fathers to wear throughout the play day.
The three-year-old class created cutout star name tags for their dads.
“The children made invitations for their dads by using letter stamps and then made star name tags for them in class,” Egolf said.
After the three-year-old students and their dads enjoyed playing with each other, the students sang a special song for their dads to the tune of B-I-N-G-O, using the letters D-A-D-D-Y.
They were then treated to a special performance by three of the fathers. Dave Smith, Briston Baughman and Joe Glista brought their guitars and presided over a sing-along to one of the students’ favorite songs, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
“This day also offers the fathers a chance to meet each other and come together as a community. This is important because most of these children will move through school together and will create lasting friendships and this gives the dads a chance to get to know one another,” Egolf said.
The 4-year-old class made ice cream cone invitations and name badges for their dads, which tied in with the ice cream snack they enjoyed with their dads during the play day.
Welcoming their dads to the school were drawings of the students’ dads titled “Our Dazzling Dads” and “Building with DAD,” in which the students used their imaginations to create art work with cut out capital D-A-D letters, and included ice cream cones, butterflies, a house with a garage and a race car.
The 4-year-old class also prepared a special song to sing for their dads to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me.” They also sang God Bless America and “Weekly Rap,” which included motions and focused on the days of the week.
“The children are excited to see their dads do “Weekly Rap.” They want to see if their dads can do the motions and keep up with them,” said Bennett.
The five-year-old class focused on sunshine, declaring ‘My Dad is My Sunshine.’ The students made bright yellow name tags for their dads.
The children also created drawings of their dads and pasted it in the middle of a paper plate which was painted with bright orange and yellow paint. The students then let their individual creativity flow while adding orange and yellow rays to the sun.
To close the special play day, both dads and students formed their friendly circle to sing the “Goodbye Song” and “Buckle Up Song” together.