Father’s Day Cards Children Can Make 

You can visit your local mall, find a fancy card shop and spend time helping your child pick out just the right card for dad. But – do you know what the rigth card is? Without a doubt, it will be the one your child makes – and it is easy, and you can help! Try any of these instructions I have found for you, get creative and make that special dad happy this Father’s day!

Invisible Message Card

This card will be lots of fun for your child, you and more importantly – for dad! And the best thing is that you can help your child make this fun card with ingredients you most probably already have in your kitchen.

You will need:

• One piece of white card stock – cut to size you want
• One teaspoon of lemon juice (can be freshly squeezed or from concentrate) or
• One teaspoon of baking soda mixed with teaspoon of water
• Small bowl
• Small paintbrush or cotton swab
• One piece of coloured stock, more than twice the size of the white size you chose
• Adhesive such as glue stick, glue or scrapbook mounting squares
• Marker
• Iron (that will be for you to help out with unless your child is of age that he can use the iron with supervision

Directions:

1. Place lemon juice – or baking soda mixture in a small bowl
2. Dip the paintbrush or cotton swab into the mixture and use it as “invisible ink” to draw a picture or write a message for dad on the white cardstock. Allow it to dry for 5-10 minutes. If you are using baking soda, brush off any dry pieces. You should be able to see faint image of the picture or message only.
3. Fold the coloured stock in half and glue the white stock with message on the front
4. Now you use marker to write a special message on the inside. You can just write Happy Father’s Day or create a special message – this depends on the age of your child and his or her capabilities.
5. Give the card to dad on Father’s Day and wait for him to try to figure out why the front of the card is blank. Then have your child (or yourself) tell him the front is done in invisible ink and that he needs to use an iron to see what it says.
6. The iron needs to be set on “cotton”or highest setting and steam setting must be off or the card will get wet. It will take a minute or two for the secret message to appear gradually.

Note:

• It can be a little tricky to write a message you can’t really see. It is a good idea to practice on a scrap piece of paper first.
• You can also have your child or yourself decorate the edges of the card with crayons, markers or little stickers – make it personal and it will be treasured for years to come!

My Dad is Worth Every Penny

This is a perfect card for dad – and a lots of fun to make with your child!

What you will need:

• 8″x10″ piece of light cardboard (cereal box, etc)
• 1 sheet green construction paper
• 9 shiny pennies
• Green fine point marker
• Pencil with eraser
• Blue fine tip marker
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• Glue stick

Directions:

1. Fold the green construction paper and cardboard in half like a greeting card.
2. Place the cardboard on the inside of the green construction paper, lining up the fold lines and use a glue stick to attach the cardboard to the construction paper. Trim off the excess paper if needed.
3. Use pencil to lightly write “DAD” across the front of the card, leaving about 1.5″ space underneath.
4. Use green fine point marker to draw dollar signs on “DAD” letters. Erase any pencil marks that might show through
5. Use white craft glue to attach a penny to each corner of the D’s, where the curve meets straight lines, and at the center of the curve. Glue a penny to the top of the letter A, and two at the bottom.
6. Write, “You’re worth every penny!” underneath “DAD” with blue fine point marker.

Note:

• The pennies add quite a bit of weight to this card, so even card stock or poster board is not sturdy enough, be sure to use the cardboard or your card will not stand freely.

Dad Loves to Fish

This card will be very much appreciated by those daddies who loves to fish – especially when his little offspring has created it!

What you will need:

• 1 sheet of blue construction paper
• Patterned paper (stripes, polka dots, etc)
• Scraps of yellow and green construction paper
• Toothpick
• 3″ string
• 2 medium wiggle eyes
• Scrap of tan felt or paper
• Scrap of white paper
• Hole punch
• Pen or pencil
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• White craft glue

Directions:

1. Fold the blue construction paper in half like a greeting card, set aside.
2. Draw out the shape of letter D and cut out the letter. Repeat for the other piece of patterned paper.
3. Cut out one of triangle shapes from the pattern from the yellow construction paper. Repeat with the green construction paper. Use a glue stick to attach the tail and fins to the fish by gluing to the back of the D shaped patterned paper. Check out the picture of this card to see it more clearly.
4. Cut the pointed ends off of the toothpick. Tie the string to one end of the toothpick and trim one end. This is your fishing pole letter “A.
5. First place your fish and your fishing pole (D A D) onto the front of the card. Once you have them where you want them, use the glue stick to attach the “D’s” and the white craft glue to attach the “A”.
6. Glue on wiggle eyes and use a sharp pencil to draw a hook at the end of the fishing line. Let dry completely.

Note:

1. While patterned paper is cute, you can also have children make their own by coloring white paper with markers or crayons and cutting out your D’s.
2. Use card stock instead of construction paper for a sturdier card.

If you are looking for recipes and direections to make that special Father’s Day dinner, check out:

Father’s Day Dinner Menu

Hope this information was helpful to you and that you will venture into the creative world! I will very much appreciate if you send in your pictures of what you and your child have created for that special dad!