Father’s Day Fun Inspired by the Book Because I’m Your Dad

Have fun with the kids on Father’s Day with activities and homemade ice cream inspired by the book Because I’m Your Dad.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Because I’m Your Dad and Disney – Hyperion Books.

Looking for a surprise homemade Father’s Day activity that kids can enjoy with their dad?  I’ve got you covered.

You all know of my love of adorable monsters – not the scary kind, but the fun, brightly colored, make children smile kind. The book Because I’m Your Dad, by Ahmet Zappa tells the story (from a monster dad’s point of view) of the different roles that dad plays. It’s the perfect book for dad’s to read to their kids on Father’s Day.

This book is perfect to include hands-on storytime fun with the kids. So, I’ve paired this lovely story with homemade rocky road ice cream (from the quote below), and a puppet theater for the kids to act out the story as it’s being read.

Because I’m your dad, you can have spaghetti for breakfast, French toast for dinner, and rocky road ice cream in the bathtub.

Homemade rocky road ice cream

The first thing you need to do is make homemade rocky road ice cream. This needs to be made a day in advance.

Rocky Road Ice Cream Recipe

Print

Serves: 6 Prep Time: 1 Hour 40 Minutes Cooking Time: 10 Minutes 10 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1 can sweetened condensed milk1/2 cup whole milk3 cups heavy whipping cream1 tbs pure vanilla extract1/3 cup chopped cashews1/2 cup mini white marshmallows1/2 cup pink marshmallows1/3 cup chocolate chips1/4 cup desiccated coconut

Instructions

1. Place the sweetened condensed milk into a small saucepan on low heat, add the cocoa powder and continue stirring until combined.
2. In a blender combine the milk, cream, vanilla, and chocolate mixture. Set aside in the refrigerator to cool for about 1 hour.
3. Using an ice cream maker follow the instructions for churning the ice cream. I poured ours in slowly and left it for about 25 minutes, then carefully added the dry ingredients - coconut, cashews, chocolate chips, and marshmallows. Let it mix for another few minutes.
4. Pour the ice cream mixture into an airtight container and refrigerate until set, preferably overnight.

While the ice cream was setting in the freezer, Miss M and I set to work making a cardboard box theater.

Puppet theater

We started with a plain cardboard box. Using an X-ACTO knife I cut the side flaps off each end of the box, and then the bottom flap off the base of the box. Using Duck Tape I taped the remaining flaps to the box to create a window in the front, and a section in the back to put the puppets underneath.

I attached a dowel rod to the top of the window with hot glue. To make curtains, I folded a couple of scraps of lace over the top, tying each with a piece of twine. Miss M decorated the box with tape and then drew a large heart in the center.

To make the puppets I drew the outline of the father and son monster, and then she colored them in. We cut them out and attached colored popsicle sticks to each.

The kids did a trial run of the play before daddy got home from work. They took it in turns, one read the book while the other used the puppets. There was a lot of improvising other things the father and son monster might have said.

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