In honor of Father’s Day, I found this “Don’t Wake Dad!” activity HERE that I really liked! You can also check out all of my Father’s Day posts HERE if you like!
The activity is meant to be printed professionally as an 11×17 (like at Costco) but I’ve tiled it for you to download below so you can print it at home in 4 sections (I’d recommend only printing the main page I have pictured above, omitting the “pieces with instructions” page).
If you don’t want to print at all, this activity can EASILY be replicated by drawing everything on the chalkboard! Another fun variation would be get pictures of all the primary children’s dad’s or grandpa’s and posting them on the chalkboard (if you have kids without a father figure in their life, I’d not recommend this variation).
You can use the board with any songs you like! Review program songs, sing various Father’s Day songs found in the songbook, wiggle songs, or even phrases of a song you are teaching. Each dad represents a song or a phrase. Simply make yourself a key so when a particular father is chosen, you know what song/phrase to sing (if using a chalk game board, simply write in the songs too!).
To play, place the image on the chalkboard (or draw it with chalk) then find candy that would be fun to use for the nose, or better yet, a tie (I’d make sure it’s all individually wrapped – ideas would be Life Savers for a nose or flat suckers for a tie)! Tape the candy pieces to the board.
The activity is simple. A child goes out into the hall, the rest of the primary chooses a dad to “wake” then the child in the hall is called back into primary. The child points to a dad to wake up. If no response from the primary, the child continues on until they point to the chosen dad where the primary whispers “Shhh! Don’t wake dad!” The child can then take down their piece of candy and the primary sings the song assigned to that dad.
Replace the candy that was taken down and repeat with a new child and a new dad to “wake.” If low on time, you can pick 2 (or more?) dads and 2 children to go into the hall at a time and only sing one song in between turns, or at the end of primary, make sure every child who didn’t get a turn, receives a piece of candy. I don’t see a problem bringing in an occasional treat to primary as long as it fits with the lesson, but if that conflicts with your primary, find an item to substitute.
If the same dad is repeatedly chosen, I’d still sing a new song – the kids will NEVER know!!
More variations would be to have the primary sit in a large circle around the primary room and play with the image on the floor. This would omit the need for taping the candy.
Check out this quick tutorial video for accessing the Resource Library:
These printables are filed on my Resource Library page under Category Title > Father’s Day > Don’t Wake Dad.
2 thoughts on “Don’t Wake Dad!”
Good Morning Camille, I cannot figure out how to send the "Don't Eat Dad" file to Costco…usually it is so simple. Is there something that I am missing???
Thanks for all you do!
Hi Jolene!
If you download the image onto your computer, you should be able to upload the JPEG file from your computer to a photo album on Costco's website. Then you will can choose to print it as an 11×17 photo. Is this what you have tried and are having trouble accomplishing? Let me know how I can help further.
~Camille