In class, your daughter will hear how Thea and Evelyn lose themselves in play, creating and laughing together. At home, she'll explore what she loves doing and make something side by side with her Fair Companion.

How you can help
     • This week works best with a little more time. Help them find an hour or so, so there's room to make something without
        rushing.
     • Help gather a few simple materials for whatever they choose: paints, baking ingredients, leaves and flowers for a crown, or
        just good walking shoes.
      • Make sure her she has her envelope. Ensure she writes down what she loves doing on page 2 before they meet.

Why play matters 
When we take time to enjoy what we love, to play, share, laugh and have fun, our minds relax. That's often when creative ideas appear. Time spent playing is something that she should never forget to do; it's where many of her best ideas will come from.

You might notice when she's so absorbed in something that she forgets how she looks or who's watching, her guard comes down. Those moments are worth protecting and capturing.

Please remember She doesn't need to choose just one passion, and they don't need to be things she's good at. Enjoying something is enough.

IMPORTANT -If you could get permission from the fair companions to take a photo of them absorbed in sharing a moment together, a photo to capture their essence. It could be focussed concentration, laughing, being relaxed, having fun together. We would love for them to share the photo of an unguarded moment at the Celebration Ceremony.

Thank you for coming out to play. The Essence Tent is less about talking and more about doing. Your conversation will grow naturally while your hands are busy.

Before you meet 
She'll have written down things she loves doing, or would love to try, under six headings: Create, Move and play, Make and cook, Notice and explore, Perform, and Sing and dance. She'll also have thought about when she feels most like herself. Ask her to show you her list, and notice what makes her face light up.

Make something together 
Choose something you both enjoy and do it side by side. You might:
     
     • weave a crown from leaves and flowers
     • paint, or paint flowers on each other's faces
     • bake or decorate something together
     • sing or dance to a song you both know
     • go for a walk with a camera and notice small wonders

Don't worry about getting it right. If a flower ends up with an extra petal, laugh about it. That's the point.

Why play matters
When we take time to enjoy what we love, to play, share, laugh and have fun, our minds relax, and creative ideas can appear as if from nowhere. Some of the most meaningful moments may come in the quiet moments when neither of you is speaking.

Let yourself play too. When she sees you lose yourself in something you love, she learns she's allowed to as well.

What she'll ask you 
These questions may come up as you make things together:
     • What did you love doing when you were young? What did you make or play?
     • Who taught you something you still love to do?
     • Is there a skill or hobby that runs through your family, like sewing, cooking, designing things, music or gardening?
     • What would you like to do more often?
     • Is there something you stopped doing that you'd love to start again?

How to share your story 
Offer a short, honest memory, then turn the focus back to her. Your story is a doorway she walks through, not a room you dwell in.

If you learned a skill from your own mother or grandmother, tell her, and show her if you can. Evelyn's love of making things came from Thea's great-grandmother, always sewing or knitting.

The question to prepare for
She'll ask: "Which of my passions would you like to try with me?"

Look at her list with curiosity and choose one, even if it's new to you. Being a beginner beside her is a gift. And, perhaps there is something you would like to share with her.

Before you finish 
Her last step is to write down "something we'll do together again." Choose it together, and if you can, put a date on it.

One IMPORTANT last thing
It would be wonderful to have an essence photo of you both so immersed in what you're doing that guards are let down and the genuine essence of who you both are shows through. See the note above for the Parent or Guardian - perhaps you could arrange this together. The hope is, that you will give your permission to share this photo at the Celebration Ceremony.

The Hall of Crests is where everything that has been discovered throughout the fair is brought together with your young companions discoveries about herself. It is in this tent, that she can express her own unique story through symbols on her crest and the written word. You are welcome to do one to.