On February 14, the children in Preschool One at RisingOaks Early Learning| John Sweeney celebrated Friendship Day. We started this tradition a couple of years ago because our team noticed that the children didn't really understand Valentine's Day. We also discovered that February 14 is actually Friendship Day, which is celebrated by wearing the color yellow. That's how it all began and over the years, we’ve evolved it to incorporate the children's interests.
Fast forward to this year! One of the things the children have enjoyed this fall and winter is dressing up and getting their hair done. We asked them if they wanted to have a party - inspired by their dancing sessions with Jenny. The response was a resounding yes! To incorporate their love for dressing up, and doing hair we decided to have a “Bibbidi-Bobbidi Ball”.
The incredible parents of our children helped make this event extra special by donating plenty of flowers, which we used to decorate the room. The children were excited and we received so much positive feedback from parents about how much their kids talked about our Bibbidi-Bobbidi party. The boys arrived at school dressed in their finest outfits, and the girls were equally stylish. The activities were a big hit!
We made friendship bracelets, and it was wonderful to see the delight on the children’s faces when they exchanged these bracelets with their friends. They also had their hair done by Jenny and did each other’s nails - even their teachers’ nails! The photo wall was a highlight, filled with joy and silly faces. Then came the dance party, which was of course, a huge success. The children loved dancing, and there was lots of spontaneous dancing throughout the morning. To top it off, we used glow sticks for added fun!
For lunch, the children chose chicken nuggets and fries, a request they have been making since September. Harper humorously added that she had "champagne" for lunch (really, it was sparkling lemonade). We set the table with help from Harper, Ivy, Tirhas, Julia, and Simone, aiming to involve the children in every aspect of the celebration.
To conclude our Friendship Day, we raised a toast to friendship, cherishing the memories we created together and looking forward to next year!
