Anyone have any ideas for an art project I can do with a 2.5 year old for Father's Day? We did a handprint painting with a poem for his mom for Mother's Day. I don't care if it's messy either. I have the time to clean everything and him up. However he doesn't really like getting paint on his hands, and is careful not to while painting. But no more handprint stuff, he doesn't really like it.
Also, we're all home together all day so it's hard to do anything without his dad knowing/seeing. Any suggestions on how I could get around that as well? That's why I'm asking so far in advance. I need to plan it out well enough that it will be a surprise.
try to find a small smooth rock and have him splash paint all over it for a paper weight.Take him outside with the rock, paint and brush and dip the brush in the paint and have him flick it at the rock or shake it whatever way is easier for him to get some sprinkles on it. You can pack all this up in a small bag and take him to the park to do this.
Have your son do artwork as usual, then take photos of it, choose some of the best, and then download it onto Snapfish or Shutterfly, etc. From there you can turn the artwork photos into a skin for Dad's laptop, put it on a mug, t-shirt, collage poster, keychain, etc. You'll be able to do the artwork right in front of Dad and he won't know the wiser!
My daughter was the same age when we/I cut out different colored construction paper in the shape of the letters "D-A-D-D-Y". I put her in a different outfit holding each of the different letters (different settings - in front of the flowers, on her tricycle, etc.) - and took pictures. Then I had the film developed - glued the pictures onto some foam squares/rectangles, and strung them together with ribbon. He loved it!
I made a homemade card about that age for dad that read "To the World's Greatest Dad! No ifs ands or . . .
butts about it!" and then put my kiddos butt print on the inside. My relatives often teased me because I often did butt art . . . Valentine's hearts, pumkins, etc.
Have fun!
I think decorating cookies is a wonderful idea! Also, yummy for the whole family!
Not sure if the father wears ties, but at about that age, my son made a tie for his dad. It was a Crayola project, and it came with a white tie, with fabric crayons. The child colors the tie, then it's ironed to make the design permanent. It was really super cute and really special to have their little scribbles saved that way. And it was really easy, and not very time-consuming, so you could easily do it without the dad finding out! You could even do it in stages. Color a little today, a little tomorrow, iron the next day... I had forgotten about that gift until you posted this question... :)
We started doing Eric Carle - esque art right about 3.
Here's how it works:
- Fingerpaint fingerpaint fingerpaint.
- Then splatter paint when it's dry with a contrasting color
- Then cut out the shapes and glue onto a background.
- Voila
Check out the craft kits available from Discovery Toys www.toysofdiscovery.com (go to shop and enter "craft" in search bar).
One includes all the materials for making a picture frame.
I sometimes have my class make silly Daddy ties with felt or other fabric. Let him decorate it any way he wants. I cut a similar shape out of felt and just attach string at the neck, or cut it the exact long shape to make a real tie.
I worked with preschoolers for many years, and one of the favorite project was a tie. Mom's provided solid light colored ties and thw kids ised fabric paint and either made a design or we used their hands and made handprints.
Michaels craft store sells little wooden people and the face is a circular picture frame. I bought one, had my son paint it ( you could use crayons, markers, or glue stuff onto it) and then put his picture in the "head" of the little man. Now it stands on my husbands desk. It's cute, personal and inexpensive.
When my daughter was in preschool, she gave my husband a hand-painted picture ( the best a 3 year old could do) in the shape of a tie with an adorable photo of herself on it with the teacher's writing on the bottom, " Happy Father's Day! 2008". The picture-tie is made of strong cardboard and has been laminated to last a long time. It has a strong string on it to hang on a hook or somewhere in the house and is often admired. Also, we, my kids (I have three) often bake something special for dad like heart shaped cookies- you can easily buy the heart-shaped cookie cut-out. My kids LOVE to make the sugar cookie dough, decorate it with sprinkles for dad. Now that they're older (6 and 8), they can write words with the cookie dough. That's always fun for kids and yummy too!
