There’s some great ideas here for children of all ages, but they’re probably not appropriate for a classroom or larger group.  You’ll also need a color printer for some of the projects.

I think the kids are going to use one of these printable Fathers Day cards this year… they’re nice!

Here’s the link:

http://www.hp.com/hho/hp_create/themes_holidays_fathers_day.html

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Fathers Day Printables

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So, here’s my idea…

1.  Make up a batch of salt dough (or any other kind of dough recipe that you want to try).  You’ll find the recipe below.

2.  Give each child a fist size piece of the dough and have them form it into a ball.  (This should a child’s size fist)  Put the balls of dough on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper (this is where you’ll leave the paperweights to dry).  Push the ball down a little bit on the cookie sheet so that it will be flat on one side.  Making the balls a little flatter, rather than perfectly round, will allow them to dry more quickly and give you more space for the next step.

3.  This is where you can really get creative with your paperweight.  Now it’s time to embed objects into the dough.  Here are some ideas:  golf tees, nuts and bolts, sunflower seeds, buttons, marbles, beads, pebbles, washers, bottle caps, etc.  You could also make impressions with leaves or other objects.  The idea is to make it personal to Dad.

4.  After you’re done embedding objects, you have to let your Fathers Day Paperweight dry completely.  This can take a week or more, depending on how thick the dough is.

5.  After the Fathers Day Paperweight is dry, you could choose to paint it with acrylic paints if you want.  It’s also nice to put the child’s name, a Father’s Day message, or the date on the paperweight with a permanent marker.  When the project is complete, spray clear acrylic sealer over it.

That’s it!  This Fathers Day Paperweight is really easy to make, can be very personal, and kids will be proud to give it to Dad!

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Fathers Day Paperweight Craft Ideas

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I’ve adapted the same idea for the questions below.  You can use some or all of the questions or make up your own.

You could put these questions and the child’s answers inside a card or laminate them along with a picture or handprint of the child.

• My Daddy is __________ years old.
• My Daddy’s name is ____________________.
• He weighs ________ pounds and is _______feet tall.
• My Daddy has __________ hair and __________ eyes.
• My Daddy’s favorite food is __________.
• My Daddy’s favorite clothes are __________.
• My Daddy’s favorite color is __________.
• My Daddy’s job is __________.
• Daddy gets mad when __________.
• Daddy is happy when __________.
• My favorite thing to do with Daddy is __________.
• The best thing about my Daddy is __________.

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Father’s Day Craft - A Survey

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Here’s what I mean…

Put a couple of kids together with a bunch of craft supplies and they will come up with all kinds of creative ideas on their own!

For parents and caregivers, that means that we don’t always need to work so hard to come up with particular craft projects and ideas for our children… and that’s where the quick craft box comes in.

This is how we’ve done it:

1.  Recycle containers to keep smaller craft supplies in.  For example, a plastic coffee can (those blue Maxwell House ones) makes a great container for longer objects like markers, scissors, pencils, etc.  Smaller lidded containers could hold buttons, beads, etc.  Loose crayons can find a home in a smaller box or medium sized container.

2.  Construction paper can be kept in file folders or plastic portfolio folders.

3.  Zip loc bags are great containers for a variety of things including glue, scraps, yarn, pipe cleaners, etc.

Here’s a short list of some of the things that you’d find in our quick craft box:

• Crayons, markers, colored pencils.
• Scissors — my kids are old enough to be responsible
• White glue and glue sticks
• Stickers and stamps
• Fun foam sheets and shapes
• Yarn, ribbon scraps, string, pipe cleaners
• Felt and felt scraps
• Buttons, beads, perlers, misc. embellishments
• Craft sticks, paper clips, clothes pins
• Cheap paper plates, bowls, and cups
• Lots of construction paper in various sizes
• Scrap wrapping paper
• Recycled items (have their own box) like tubes, tubs, jugs, bottles, etc.
• Coloring books
• Mad Libs
• Various Project books and printables

Here’s some things I would keep under lock and key (away from the kids) unless you’re supervising their craft time:

• Paint
• Water colors
• Glitter
• Specialty glue (glues other than Elmer’s and glue sticks)
• Scissors (unless your kids are old enough that you don’t have to worry about them cutting stuff they shouldn’t — hair, clothes, furniture)

You get the idea here.

We take all these kinds of things and put them together into a large craft box (which has evolved over the years to be a couple of boxes).  Whenever it’s time for a project or some free crafting time, we drag out the box and get busy.

The best part about having a craft box is that we can get out the craft box and I can turn the kids loose to create whatever they want without having a specific project in mind. It takes the pressure off of me to find them a specific project and gives them time to be independently creative without any particular direction from me.

They come up with all kinds of projects that I would never have thought of on my own!  It’s awesome!

Here’s some great activity books that you might want to consider adding to your craft box:

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Quick Craft Box

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Duck Feet Painting

“A spring art activity that I have used often with toddlers and preschoolers that they really enjoy is “Duck Feet Painting”. We fill a tray with some yellow paint and use spatulas to make the webbed footprints on the paper. Playing or singing spring/duck songs during the activity reinforces the “duck” theme. Ex. Six Little Ducks, 5 Little Ducks, etc.”

– Submitted by Tracy

When we tried this craft, we used fly swatters instead of spatulas.  The kids loved it!

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Duck Feet Painting Craft

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Kids of all ages will enjoy making a cloud picture spring craft. There are lots of different ways you can go about making cloud crafts, so I’ve put together a few ideas that we’ve done over the years.

Paper Towel Cloud Pictures

This one is super simple.  All you need is white paper towels, a glue stick, and blue construction paper.  Tear the paper towels into cloud shapes.  Younger kids can just go for your basic fluffy cloud, but older kids can try to tear the paper towel to look like an animal or other object.  Once you’ve sufficiently torn your paper towel, all you have to do is glue it to your construction paper.

For older kids, you could use chalk, water colors, or markers to add a little dimension to your clouds and really make a beautiful picture while teaching them a little about art.

Fluffy Cloud Pictures

This is another really easy cloud picture that you can do with younger kids.  All you have to do is glue cotton balls to blue construction paper.  You can also put the whole idea of the clouds into perspective for them by putting a “scene on the ground” below the clouds with crayon or marker.  Young children will just enjoy the sensory experience of gluing cotton balls to paper.

Abstract Cloud Craft

This craft is intended for kids that are ages 6 and above because younger kids will have a problem getting the concept.  I also think you could do this as a scouting or homeschool activity, especially if you threw in some facts about clouds like the different types, what makes them different colors, etc.

The idea is to cut cloud shapes out of scraps of material and glue it to the construction paper.  Try to have a variety of scraps available so that the kids can really let their imagination fly by using different patterns, colors, and shapes all in the same picture.

Also be careful with the scissors… they need to be a little sharper to cut fabric.

Lastly, if your younger child is having trouble making the connection between the craft and the clouds in the sky — take them outside and lay down in the grass with them.  I guarantee they’ll remember the day you laid down in the grass and looked at the clouds together for a long, long time.

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Cloud Picture Spring Craft

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… So we made a bunch of fish out of pipe cleaners to supplement the four we already had.  It was easy to make a lot of fish using pipe cleaners.  Simply cross the two ends of a pipe cleaner and then twist it into a fish shape with a tail.

In order to make the game even more fun, we created a large pond in the living room on a rainy day.  We layed out pieces of blue construction paper on the floor in a somewhat circular shape, then outlined the pond with long pieces of scrap yarn.  This kind of defined the edge of the pond so we wouldn’t fall in while fishing.

Lastly, we grabbed a bucket from the sandbox to put our fish when we caught them.

It was a great way to “go fishing” on a rainy day.  It’s also an activity that my son still vividly remembers after several years.

You could make your own fishing poles by using a cardboard tube from wrapping paper. Use a piece of yarn or string for the fishing line and tie it to one end of the tube. Then tie a magnet to the other end of the line (a refrigerator magnet would work well if there is a way to tie it on the fishing pole).

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Create a Fishing Pond

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This project calls for a 12 x 12 inch piece of felt only because it is easier to cut that way. You really only need a 6 x 12 inch piece, if you happen to have a scrap piece that big laying around.

Materials

• 12 x 12 Inch Piece of Felt
• White Glue
• Scissors
• 12 Inch Piece of Yarn
• Scrap Pieces of Felt
• Other Decorating Accessories

Directions

1. Cut the 12 x 12 inch piece of felt in half, making 2 pieces that are 6 x 12 inches each.

2. Lay the 12 inch long piece of yarn on the felt along one of the 6 inch edges, placing it about a half inch from the edge of the felt. Put a line of glue along that edge and fold the top edge of the felt over to cover the yarn. You’ll have to hold it a few minutes until it sets. Let Dry.

3. Tie the ends of the yarn together to make a loop. Cut off the two bottom corners of the felt so that they form a point.

4. Cut out any kind of Spring shapes you want and glue them onto your banner. You can also glue on other decorating accessories like sequins, buttons, ribbon, artificial flowers and leaves, etc.

More Ideas

1. You could create one of these little banners for just about any theme — holidays, seasons, birthday, etc.

2. You can make a banner that you can use the whole year… Make the basic banner and put velcro on the back of all the pieces. That way you could switch them out with different pieces to reflect different holidays or seasons.

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Spring Banner Craft

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Salt Dough Handprint Plaque

1.  Make a batch of salt dough (the recipe is below).

2.  Break off a piece of dough that’s a little bigger than the child’s fist. Roll it out flat and make it any shape you want.  Don’t make it too thick or it will crack when it dries.

3.  Place the child’s hand in the middle of the rolled out dough and press it into the dough to make an impression. Press a paper clip into the top of the dough to make a hanger.

4.  Let the dough air dry (seems to work best) or place it in a 250º oven 30 minutes to an hour, or until dry.  Slow drying will help it keep from cracking.  Don’t turn up the oven to make it go faster or you’ll have a brown plaque.

5.  Once the plaque is dry, you can paint it with acrylic paint or leave it white.  It also looks really nice when spray painted.

6.  String a nice ribbon through the paper clip and tie it to make a nice hanger.

Salt Dough Recipe

Mix 1 1/2 Cups of salt and 4 cups of flour in a large bowl. Gradually add about 1 1/2 Cups of water until the dough forms a ball around the spoon. (If you add too much water, just add a little more flour. If it’s too crumbly, add more water.) Dump the dough out onto a flat surface and knead it until it is pliable and easily formed.

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Handprint Plaque Keepsake

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I call this card the “Guess How Much I Love You” Card…

It’s a very simple card to make that is guaranteed to get a big smile from Mom.  My daughter brought one of these home to me when she was two and I keep it in my scrapbook.

What You’ll need:

• 2 sheets of construction paper
• A pencil
• Glue stick
• Scissors.

What to do:

1.  Trace each of the child’s hands onto one of the sheets of construction paper.

2.  Cut out.

3.  Fold the second sheet of construction paper in half like a card. On the outside of the card write, “Guess How Much I Love You…”

4.  Glue each of the hands to the inside of the card so that they are facing out. Between the hands write, “I Love You This Much!” Happy Mother’s Day!

I realize my directions aren’t so great and it may be a little difficult to understand them, so I made a template for the card, so all you have to do is cut out the hands, print out both sides of the template, color and put together.

It’s super easy and Mom will love it!

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Easy and Cute Mother’s Day Card

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