a peek inside the fishbowl

01 May, 2008

Crafts for dads?

Posted by andrea tomkins in: File under crafty

I received a very nice email from a dad who was looking for some craft ideas to do with his 3 1/2 year old daughter for Mother’s Day.

Isn’t that nice?

Unfortunately I didn’t have very much to give him. These are some a few of the ideas I have looked at lately:

Hand prints with fabric paint – could be very cute on the dishtowel, or a t-shirt, or a pillowcase (i.e. “You’re the mommy of my dreams” ha ha)
Photo brooches
– A handmade book. Daddy can print off some photos to paste in the book, or the child can dictate some of his/her favourite recipes, or create an illustrated list of their favourite things about mom… you get the idea.
– I also like this decorate-a-birdhouse idea !

Any other good crafty ideas you’d like to share?

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9 Responses to "Crafts for dads?"

1 | Renee

May 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am

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My husband has done the “paint your own mug” craft with our daughter when she was 2. There are a few stores in Ottawa where you can do this. And I’m hoping to receive another mug this year!!

2 | MomOnTheGo

May 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am

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My husband has set Reid up to paint a few pictures over the years – finger paint when she was small, with a brush now that she is a big girl of 3.5 – and once they rolled and cut out playdough shapes that they mounted on a paper that she had coloured. In all cases, he framed the pictures. It’s the framing that makes the gift. I can bring the art to my office without my office seeming untidy because of the curling edges of newsprint pictures pinned to the wall. A side benefit is that Reid is extremely proud to see her artwork framed.

I also receive a “daddy and daughter” picture each Mother’s Day (from the Loblaws Portrait Studio) and he gets a “mama and daughter” picture for Father’s Day. The best approach for these is to tell the photographer that you want a picture of them playing together, hugging, whatever, but not posed too formally or not only formally. In this year’s photo (I was there), Reid wanted to make silly faces for one pose. They have they fingers at the sides of their mouth and their tongues are sticking out and they look very happy with each other. It is just perfect!

3 | Marla

May 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm

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I like the idea of a nicely done image of the father and daughter. Since we do crafts so often, and have so many pictures, I must say – for mother’s day, I don’t want another craft thing that I have to enjoy for a while, then figure out how to discreetly dispose of. Oh man, that sound Grinchy, and I already understand there’s a daycare project in progress — but I like flowers for my garden for Mother’s Day!

That said – I’m addicted to this site now: http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

4 | porter

May 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm

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My favourite Mother’s day gift, and for that matter I think it’s among my fav gifts ever, is a painting my husband had the kids do for me. He bought a canvas from a craft store (it’s a rather large one…maybe 3′ x 5′) and one afternoon let the kids go wild…I was totally shocked when I got it. It now hangs in my kitchen above our kitchen table.

5 | Scattered Mom

May 1st, 2008 at 9:16 pm

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I really like those ideas!

The first thing I thought of was a calendar made of pics of Dad and the kids. They can be done online or through a photo shop…even Walmart, I think.

6 | andrea

May 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 am

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SM: photo books are a great idea (and not that expensive either!), but they do take a bit of time.

7 | J.

May 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am

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– crayola t-shirts!
– marble magets with pictures of the family inside
– bath bombs
– hand flowers in a pot

8 | andrea

May 2nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm

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Oooh, I like the marble magnet idea!

9 | lex

May 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 am

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How about a little gardening craft – a window herb garden (for the cooking mom), with crafted plant labels or a painted pot?

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