Summer Boost
Activity:
Personalized Father's Day Card
This year on Father's Day, you're sure to see lots of cool cards in the store. But for building fine motor skills, practicing writing, and simply warming Dad's heart, nothing beats homemade. Here's a creative, unique stand-up card that salutes your family's hard-working guy!
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What You Need:
- Piece of lightweight cardboard, cut to 5”x7”
- 1 sheet of white paper, 8-1/2"x11"
- 1 sheet of red paper
- Scissor and glue stick
- Black Sharpie marker
- Metallic marker in silver or gold
What You Do:
- Start by placing one piece of white paper horizontally on a flat surface. Then place the cardboard in the center, with its 5" edges on top and bottom, and 7" edges on the sides.
- Fold the top edge of the white paper down approximately 3/4", and where it hits the top of your cardboard, glue it down. Do the same with the the lower edge of the white paper.
- Now you will have two flaps of white paper remaining, one on the left and one on the right. Wrap the white paper around the shirt cardboard like a present, smoothing it evenly. Overlap the right flap of the white paper over the left one, so that the edge is about 1” off center, and then glue it down, like this:
- Pull out your red paper, and the extra sheet of white paper. Cut two long triangles from the white paper to form your shirt collar, and one 2” square from the red paper to form the "knot" of the tie (you can do these freehand). Finally, cut a tie from the red paper by cutting a rectangle approximately 7”x3” and folding it.
- Before gluing everything down, invite your child to write "To Dad" on the front of the tie, and then to add decorations that make the tie personal to him. Does Dad love fishing? Gardening? Football? Draw it in!
- Now you're ready to put everything together. Start by gluing the triangles to the top edge, to form a collar. Then tuck the top of the “tie” under the edge of the square, and glue the square and tie top securely down. Do NOT, however, glue down the rest of the tie!
- Under the tie, where the white paper is overlapped, have your child draw lines for shirt stitching, and add buttons. Then, in the space under the tie and between buttons, have your child write an extra message to Dad—“Happy Father's Day” perhaps, or “You're the Best.” Don't be surprised if this card ends up standing on Dad's desk on Monday morning—it's bound to bring him cheer for years to come!
