Father’s Day is coming and school will soon be out. Entertain the kids while making a fun Father’s day gift. Personal gifts are not only more meaningful, they are also cheaper than store bought gifts. Two great reasons to help the kids make dad a Father’s Day gift this year. Here are a few ideas for making a gift this year.
Make dad a book. Have the child brain storm about four to six memories that they have about their father. Choose instances that dad will remember too and then have the child make or draw a picture about that memory. For every story have the child write a few sentence. They can say what happened and how they felt. Have to child draw a picture of themselves with their dad for the cover of the book. Once all of the pictures are drawn and all of the stories are written your are ready to make the book. You can either use a hole punch and string to bind the book together or you can take it to a copy center. A copy center can put a three ring binder on the book, it will look professional and will not cost very much money.
Along the same lines as making a memory book is making a coupon book. The child can think of a few things that their dad asks them to do. They can make coupons for those tasks and then instead of arguing about it or telling the kid what to do, dad can simply “cash in” the coupon for the task.
If dad has an office, it is a good idea to make him something for the office. One thing that most dads like to have on their desk is pictures of their children. A nice Father’s Day gift is to make a picture frame and put a picture in it. Go to you local craft store and be surprised at the number of options for creating personal picture frames. You can pick out a frame and stencil a message on it, or you can find frames that are cut into the shape of dad’s favorite hobby. Of course, if you don’t have the time or the money for the craft store you can also make a nice picture frame out of popsicle sticks. Dad probably made his dad a similar gift. This makes the gift all the more nostalgic.
Something dad almost certainly didn’t give his own father was a custom made mouse pad. To make a custom mousepad you need a computer with a printer and some creative software, some iron-on transfer paper and a blank mouse pad. The child can design the perfect mouse pad. It could have dad’s picture and the text #1 DAD over the top of it. It could also be a picture of dad and the kid or kids. If you have a scanner, a hand drawn picture could be scanned into the computer. Once the picture is in the computer in a file form it can be cropped, flipped, or resized in a paint, or Photoshop type program and then printed out on the transfer paper. Iron the transfer paper onto the blank mouse pad and viola, a homemade Father’s Day present for dad.
The important thing about making something for dad is making it personal. Dad’s present should be unique, something that only that kid could have given to that dad. Presents can be personal by referring to specific events. They can also be made personal by using photographs of the people involved. If dad has a favorite sport or something that he loves to do that thing can be added to the gift.
The gift doesn’t need to be expensive. It doesn’t even need to be well made but it should be personal and it should come from the heart of the child. Ask the child to be in charge of designing any present. Kids are generally more creative than we are and they will have a unique, sometimes funny, perspective about their dads.
