Father’s Day craft gifts bring children and dad together

A homemade gift sounds like a nice idea – until the two-year-old loses interest after two minutes and the scissors are taboo anyway. This is exactly why many good resolutions fail. Every child can contribute something to Father’s Day, you just have to adapt it to their age: a baby makes a footprint, a kindergarten child folds and glues, a school child threads ironing beads. A Father’s Day gift to make with children It’s surprisingly relaxing, and most of the materials are in the craft drawer anyway.

You can also use the same principle to make a Mother’s Day card to suit your child. And because Father’s Day, as Ascension Day, falls on a different date every year, it’s worth collecting ideas that will work the same way next time.

Before you get started: timing, materials and a good hiding place

Three little things decide whether crafting becomes a pleasant memory or a nervous game. If you follow a few basic rules, you can do crafts safely with children and stay calm – even if some paint ends up on the table.

Make a Father’s Day gift with a baby: the footprint picture

There is no more beautiful classic for the little ones than the footprint picture. The highlight: the sole of dad’s shoe serves as a large frame, the little child’s foot sits tiny next to it. The size difference tells the whole story, without any words.

You only need a little:

• a large white cardboard or a small canvas
• washable finger paint in two tones
• a pair of dad’s shoes with well-structured soles
• a wide brush and a damp cloth ready to hand

Coat the clean, dry sole with a thick layer of paint and press the shoe firmly onto the cardboard without wobbling. Once the print is in place, color the children’s feet in a second color and place them next to or in the shoe print. Then wash off the little feet immediately before the color migrates. Finally, let everything dry and add a short lettering or the year if necessary.

The picture works just as well with two siblings: simply place two small pairs of feet in different colors next to the large print. Because a baby only participates for a short time, it’s best to have everything ready before the color comes out – then the important moment is over in a minute.

Toddlers and preschoolers: medal and cup

Between the ages of two and five, children want more than just holding still. Folding, gluing, dabbing – it’s all fun and works surprisingly well. A paper medal “Best Dad” is perfect for this.

You will need two sheets of colored paper, a sheet of yellow paper, a black pen, scissors, glue and two strips of red paper. Fold a long strip of paper into even accordion folds and glue the ends together to form a round rosette. In the middle is a yellow circle with the inscription “Best Dad”, with two red ribbons underneath as a medal bow. The child does the folding, but the adult hand is often better at gluing it together.

If fine motor skills are not yet sufficient, a personalized mug is the relaxed alternative. The child places a fingerprint, hand or footprint on a simple white cup using special print paint. The color is then fixed in the oven – be sure to note the temperature and duration on the packaging, as the information varies depending on the product. The motif can then even survive the dishwasher.

Primary school children: card, portrait and iron-on beads

From primary school age things can get trickier. The classic remains the homemade greeting card, only now it is more sophisticated: as a shirt-shaped card with a glued-on tie, as a sailboat, as a car or as a small toolbox. Dad’s hobby often reveals which shape is right.

If you have more patience, you can try a paper scrap portrait. Many small, torn pieces of paper create a colorful mosaic that suggests the dad – not a realistic image, but a cheerful collage. This idea takes time and steady hands, but rewards you with a truly unique piece.

The iron-on beads are most popular with school children. Based on a template, a motif is created on a peg board, for example a superhero emblem, which is then melted together with the iron. Other iron-on bead ideas range from simple hearts to small figures. The finished motif can be stuck onto the card or made into a key ring yourself – so dad has the gift with him on his key ring every day.

A word about safety: Ironing beads are small parts. If a single part fits through the standardized test cylinder of the toy standard DIN EN 71-1, it is considered to be swallowable; Toys with such parts must carry the warning “Not for children under 36 months,” according to the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety. For children under the age of three, this specifically means: only work under direct supervision or use maxi beads of around ten millimeters that are too big to swallow.