Did you know that involving parents in children’s pre-school and school life is linked to closer bonds with children, increased resilience and overall family wellbeing? Involving grandparents is beneficial to strengthening family bonds too and further improving the wellbeing of young children. This is why each year we encourage all providers of early childhood education to fit in a day dedicated to celebrating grandparents.
In the Seven Stone Philosophy, a stone is dedicated to relationships and their impact on wellbeing: “Healthy relationships lead to better lives. They are important and have an enormous impact on our physical and mental health.” Mums and dads should of course be celebrated, but we also believe that grandparents unique role in children’s lives should be celebrated too. This is why we always include a Grandparents Day each year!

Relationships can vary

As we all know, families come in all different shapes and sizes, and family dynamics and relationships can vary greatly.
Each child has a different relationship with their grandparents, while some may not have grandparents. It can be a good idea to invite children to celebrate grandparents and special friends, so that an aunty, uncle, godparent or family friend can attend too.
Grandparents and Special Friends Day presents an opportunity for children to share their learning environment – it’s always a treat to watch children give the tour and point out their artwork along the way!
July is the month we choose and recommend for celebrating Grandparents and Special Friends Day at Bonkers Beat – with Mothers Day in May and Father’s Day in September, it fits nicely in between.

Get creative for Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Here are some creative ideas to include in your celebration of Grandparents and Special Friends Day:

• Create a photo frame as a gift
• Children can simply draw/paint their grandparents/special friends
• Children enjoy cooking up a storm to share some special treats with grandparents/special friends
• Get out the glue to create a collage that represents their relationship
• Sing some special songs together
• Put on a special show for grandparents/special friends
• Play instruments together in a music session
• All children act out a favourite book for the grandparents/special friends
• Yoga and wellbeing activities with grandparents/special friends

Bonkers Beat members, share your ideas to celebrate grandparents and special friends on our closed group. Parents, let us know what you thought of our celebration on the closed group for the centre. Everyone else, feel free to share yours on our Facebook Page.