Gifts from the heart
Father’s Day is a time to teach your children to shower Dad with love and affection.
Skip store-bought gifts and help your children create something handmade for their dad. Add a healthy dose of letting Dad veg on his big day and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a memorable Father’s Day!
If you’re not into messy play at home, it’s tempting to leave arts and crafts time at school. Even if you dread getting glue and glitter all over your countertops, the clean-up is worth the quality time spent creating something with your kids. This Father’s Day, help your preschoolers create homemade gifts for Dad with one of these four easy craft ideas.
Family stick puppets
Create puppets that represent the members of your family. Use popsicle sticks for the body and pipe cleaners for the arms. Let your preschoolers draw clothes and other features on the sticks. Tissue paper can be used to create clothing. Help your kids glue googly eyes onto the puppet faces. Have your kids create and rehearse a special puppet show for Dad to see on the morning of Father’s Day. At the end of the show, he can keep the puppets as his gift. For this craft, you’ll need craft popsicle sticks, markers, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and glue.
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Decoupage picture frame
Make Dad a one-of-a-kind picture frame. Over the span of several days, have your preschoolers cut out scraps of paper from magazines. Try using every color of the rainbow or just one color scheme, such as greens and blues. While your kids work on cutting scraps, cut out letters to spell your kids’ names. Carefully place the scraps of colored paper onto the frame and brush Mod Podge over them to seal them. After the first layer has dried, add your kids’ names. When the frame is finished, include a picture of your kids for a special gift for Dad. For this craft, you’ll need a plain craft photo frame, a photo of your kids, safety scissors, magazines, a paint brush and Mod Podge.
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“Fine” art prints
Help your preschoolers create abstract art pieces that Dad will be proud to display at home or at the office. The key to this fun craft is to let kids go wild with watercolors and plain white postcard paper. Offer kids a selection of watercolors. You can suggest a theme, such as painting “happy feelings” or “sunshine,” or just let the kids direct themselves. Once the art has dried, carefully place it in modern or classic photo frames for a gallery-worthy Father’s Day gift. For this craft, you’ll need plain white postcard paper, photo frames, brushes and watercolor paints.
Silly photo magnets
To begin creating silly photo magnets, take pictures of your kids making silly faces or posing with props like hats, fake mustaches and costume jewelry. Print the photos your kids like the best and glue them to card stock paper. Once the glue has dried, cut the children out. Don’t worry about following the outlines exactly. Have your kids help you glue magnets to the back of each cut-out child for a Father’s Day gift Dad can display on the fridge or on filing cabinets. For this craft, you’ll need a camera, photo printer, card stock paper, glue and craft magnets.
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