A 5 senses Father's Day experiences with a $100 Bunnings gift voucher to be won 🎉
What does Father’s Day smell like? This year at Enrich, it smelled like an essential oil car air freshener made by the dads and children. It most certainly tasted like barbecue sausages. And what was that sound? Not the familiar sound of children playing with their friends and showing their dads their favourite outdoor activities. That other sound… The one you can’t clearly hear, yet the Dads were convinced they could identify… That’s the Mystery Sound competition. One of our super dads guessed correctly. The mystery sound was…cutting paper with scissors. The dad won a $100 Bunnings Gift voucher.
For our Father’s Day celebration this year, we invited all dads and the special father figures in our children’s lives to experience five activities inspired by the five senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight.
The activities involved a little challenge, a friendly competition and plenty for the children and dads to experience together.
Hear: Can Dad guess the sound?
This one comes with bragging rights. At our sound station, dads and children listened carefully to identify the mystery sound. They wrote their best guesses on the competition sheets. Every correct answer went into the draw to win a $100 Bunnings gift voucher.
Touch: What’s hiding in the mystery box?
No peeking. For our first 5 senses challenge, Dad and child put their hands inside a mystery box to touch and explore a mysterious object together. Is it soft? Bumpy? Smooth? Hard? Familiar?
The fun is in slowing down and working it out without relying on sight.
Plenty of learning is tucked inside an activity like this. Children naturally explore through their senses, and the mystery box gave dads an opportunity to step into that experience with them. They can compare what they notice, share guesses and discover that the smallest hands in the room are surprisingly good detectives.
Sight: A photo with Dad
Finally, something to keep. Our Father’s Day photo booth gives children and their dads or special people the chance to take a photo together. Children change so quickly in the early years. A photo from an ordinary afternoon can become surprisingly meaningful a few years later. So while the children might be most interested in the fun of posing with Dad, we hope families leave with a little snapshot of this stage of childhood too.
Taste: It wouldn’t be Father’s Day without a sausage sizzle
Some Father’s Day traditions are worth keeping simple. Every year, our dads get to enjoy a sausage sizzle, with time to refuel, sit together and enjoy the Enrich community. Because sometimes the best part of an event is simply spending quality time together.
Smell: Make a Super Dad car air freshener
Next, little hands were put to work creating something Dad can take with him wherever he goes: a Super Dad car air freshener. The children were invited to create a scented keepsake with their dads.
There is something particularly lovely about a gift a child has helped make. It does not need to be perfectly finished. The value is in knowing they made this for me. And every time Dad gets into the car, there will be a small reminder of the little person who made it.
Why celebrate through the five senses?
Young children use their senses constantly as they explore the world around them. They feel unfamiliar textures, notice smells, stop when they hear something interesting and learn a great deal simply by doing. Our five-senses Father’s Day celebration took that natural way of exploring and made it something dads and children could enjoy side by side.
What matters most is the shared experience. A child and their dad trying to solve something together, making a gift and sharing food. Laughing when a guess is completely wrong. Standing side by side for a photo. They are simple moments, but childhood is full of simple moments that become important because of who was there to share them.
Celebrating the important people in our children’s lives
At our Southport childcare centre, family events like Father’s Day are one of the ways we bring children, educators and families together. Children build their sense of belonging through the people who know them, care for them and make time to be part of their world. Celebrations such as Father’s Day give us an opportunity to celebrate the dads, grandads, stepdads and special father figures who play that role in our children’s lives.
To all of our Enrich families who joined us for this year’s Father’s Day celebration, thank you for making it such a special afternoon.
At Enrich Early Education in Southport on the Gold Coast, family events are one of the ways we bring children, educators and families together beyond the everyday routine of early learning.
Would you like to experience Enrich with your child? We would love to welcome your family for a personal tour.