Father’s Day Card from a Toddler

This process art Father’s Day Card from a toddler is fun for kids and a sweet gift for a sentimental dad.

To get the layers of colors without everything mixing, we made this in stages. My 6-year-old twins were the guinea pigs for this project. They had fun pretending to be toddlers.

UPDATE: They would have loved making Daddy this Letter T for Tie craft!

When I tried this out the first time, I mixed all the colors together on one tray. I took pictures of each step. Of course, then I ended up making a change. When I gave this to my girls, who demanded colors that don’t combine well, the result was ugly. So we started over. This time, I gave each girl one color at a time.

Father’s Day Craft  – Materials

• White construction paper
• Washable tempera paint
• Scissors
• Plastic tray

Father’s Day Craft – Instructions

1. Put a small amount of one color of paint on the tray and get your toddler started finger painting.
2. While your child paints, cut out a tie shape from one sheet of paper. Fold a second sheet of paper in half.
3. When you toddler is “done” with that color, use the paper to take an impression of his work: Out of reach of grabby little hands, hold the tie cutout and folded paper together as shown below. Carefully lay both down onto the paint. Gently smooth the paper to pick up the paint, then pull the paper up. Let dry.
4. Rinse the tray clean, dry it off, and squirt on a second color of paint. Then, repeat step 3.

You’ll get a card with a reverse image of a father’s day tie. You’ll also get the tie. It’s up to you to decide whether to combine them or use one or the other, or both.

I think I like the tie the best.

Finally, you can add a Father’s day book to read with Dad and a fathers day coupon book to top off his special day.