You will need …
Brown card Red paper 2 eyes 1 red glitter pom pom Glue Scissors Craft knife 2 wrapped candycanes
On the brown card, cut out one reindeer head, two ears, and one strip.
With a pencil, mark where the cuts will be made and using a craft knife cut the slits in the head to fit the strip through and across the top for the candycanes to slide into.
Weave the strip through the head so that you have both tags sticking out of the front of the head.
Turn the head over and pull the tags out so the candy-canes can fit through.
Glue the ears to the tags at the front of the head. Push the candy-canes through the slits at the top of the head and through the tags at the back of the head.
Cut ear detail out of the red paper and stick to the ears. Glue on the eyes and nose and the reindeer is now looking way too cute to be eaten … or is it??
This is a lovely craft to make for your parent, grandparent or teacher to let them know how much you love and appreciate them. It can also be adapted to be a thank you jar for a friend, a memories jar for a baby as it grows or even a jar with jokes or words of wisdom written on the strips of paper. I love this type of gift because it gives you the opportunity to say all the things you would like the special recipient to know but don’t always get the chance to say. Best of all, it is fun and easy to make too.
To make this gift you need a glass jar with a lid, some glue, colored paper, pen or marker, ribbon, scissors and letters to spell out your label. Our jar is labeled with ”I Love You Mum”. Stick the letters that spell out your label on the outside of the jar. These letters have been cut from an old magazine but you could use alphabet stickers instead.
Cut the colored paper into narrow strips, wide enough to write a message on. Write your special messages on the strips of paper. For example, finish the line “I Love You Mum” on the outside of the jar by writing on the strip “… because you make me yummy dinners” or “… because you give me the best cuddles”.
Roll the strips around the pencil so they curl and then pop inside the jar. Do as many strips as it take to fill the jar. Put the lid on and tie the ribbon over the lid. If you don’t have a jar with a lid you can place a piece of fabric over the top and tie it with a ribbon instead.
Take a special picture and chop it up to make a special gift.
I have to be secretive with this one and not show you the final assembled puzzle until after Fathers Day which is September the 5th here in New Zealand. Just in case a certain Dad takes a look at this site! He is allowed to see that we have made him a puzzle – but not allowed to see what it is of. All will be revealed after September the 5th, in the meantime here it is as an idea.
To make this jigsaw puzzle you just need a picture that is drawn on some card, it can also have a message written on it. I recommend cutting the picture up into block – not trying to make the traditional jigsaw shapes. The sort of thinner card that we have used does not slot together too well if it is in traditional jigsaw shapes, but is easy to work with if chopped into random shapes like those pictured. You can also buy blank jigsaws especially for drawing on – your child’s artwork on these would make a great gift for Dad too.
And now that the New Zealand Fathers day is done and dusted, (except for Cubs Fathers Day Fish and Chip night), I can reveal the puzzle! It was completed by the man in question while I cooked him bacon and eggs and the children ran a commentary on the details in the artwork in the puzzle.
As the drawing is so detailed, it is a little hard to see what is going on in the artwork – fortunately I took a photo before we chopped it up! The picture is by our son and is of our family with a cartoonish emphasis put on our various hair styles. I am on the left with curly hair that goes everywhere, then the Dad sporting a lack of hair, beside him is the artist with a tall tower of hair representing what his hair does between haircuts – also what he would like it to do as he hates haircuts! Finally on the right is the daughter of the family with a long and very thick mane of hair.
If you are looking for a quick and easy last minute present for Fathers Day, this is great.
You just need a rock, some tissue paper and a bit of glue. Give the rock a quick clean and paste on some torn bits of tissue paper. Once it is dry, write on ‘My Dad Rocks’ and you have a very special paper weight for Dad’s desk.
For Dad’s special day, make him King with a specially crafted crown.
I knew that a crown for dad would be a great Fathers Day craft for the children, but had not planned at all how it would go. So without much thinking about it I cut out a crown shape, wrote the words on it and then handed it over to No 1. Daughter to see what ideas she had.
As it turned out she had plenty of ideas! It is a much better paper craft for children than I was anticipating. First of all she with all the ideas colored in the letters with some cool patterns. Then she used some of her special stickers and arranged them on the points.
But wait, there’s more! She drew and colored and decorated for ages and ages.
I helped out a tiny bit, I added a strip of card at the back so that it would fit around a head, stapled it together and we have a crown waiting for a King. He will have to wait until Fathers day though, can’t have him being the boss for more than one day a year!!
Pop any gift in this bag made from some of your own decorated paper and you will be giving double the gift!
There are so many great art and paper crafts for children that create artworks and decorated paper. The technique we have used to decorate this paper is pulled apart paint. To do this you cover some paper thickly with paint, and then dribble or dab another color on top of it, put some more paper on top and push down to squash the two colors together – when you peel the top sheet off you get a pattern like the paper in the bag we have made here.
To make the bag you start off with your decorated paper, a length of cord cut in half and also something with square corners that is about the size of the bag you want. Wrap up one end of the object with the paper, creasing the corners and sides to make nice sharp edges. Glue the paper together where it meets. Carefully remove the object and your bag is halfway made.
At the other open end of the bag, fold over the top edge into the bag so that it has a nice neat top. This is also reinforces the top edge so it does not tear easily where the cord goes through. Punch four holes through the folded over paper – try and have the two pairs line up evenly. Tie a knot at the end of one piece of cord and thread it through one hole, starting from the inside of the bag and then back through the other hole on the same side. You should now have one knot inside the bag. Tie a knot at the other end of the cord and repeat for the other handle of the bag.
When you are tyeing the knots on the cord or ribbon for the handles, thread a little card onto them before you finish. Then you have a handy gift card already attached for the recipients name – and of course, you get to use some more of your lovely decorated paper.
