How to make a Dad Dish

One last Father's Day project to share.

Last year the Grade 5's made trays for their Dad's.  This year Grade 5 was pressed for time so I lucked out and found these terracotta  pot trays on a clearance sale at a local greenhouse.

With some paint and decoupage we have a quick easy Father's Day present.














MATERIALS REQUIRED:


- terracotta plant trays, I found mine at Sunnyside (if you're local) for 27 cents each
- acrylic craft paint
- paint brush
- paper
- pencil crayons, wax crayons, and/or sharpies,  Do not use WASHABLE MARKERS
- colored cardstock
- alphabet stencil, stamps or a cricut
- tacky glue
- mod podge or acrylic medium in gloss

Paint the inside of your tray with acrylic craft paint.  It might need 2 coats.  It dries very fast.

While it's drying make a Dad cartoon or drawing.

We made ours circular. Outline with sharpie, add color with pencil crayons.  Don't use washable markers as they will smear when you are sealing or decoupaging.

Glue your letters and cartoon in to place.  We used cricut letters but you could type some out on the computer, paint some, stencil some.........

Seal with Mod podge or acrylic medium.  I always choose glossy.


Now these aren't sealed yet, the sealed ones don't photograph so well. You can click on the picture to see these larger.

Hope I've given you a few ideas you can try for Father's Day.

Portraits of Dad

So the Grade 2 teachers had this tradition.  The students would make portraits of their Dads on a piece of wood, usually just in marker.

I asked if I could change it up a bit, you know me, the kids gotta paint!

And although I was a bit skeptical I must say they are coming together quite nicely.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- pieces of wood, we used 2 x 4
- white acrylic paint or gesso
- flesh toned paints
- acrylic paint in shirt colors
- paint brushes
- pencil crayons, fine sharpies
- small buttons
- colored paper
- tacky glue
- Mod podge, optional

So we just used 2 x 4's cut into 12 inch lengths.  I then primed them with gesso on both sides. Let dry.

I had the kids draw lightly with pencil a head, neck, and shoulders.  The shoulders go off the side and then continue on the back. 

We then painted the head and neck on the front, let it dry, then painted head and neck on the back.

 Paint in the shirt in the front and the sides, let that dry and then do the back.

You then take a very small brush and paint in the white of the eyes.  Let that dry.

Using pencil, fine sharpies, and pencil crayons continue with the details of the face.  If your markers are washable you'll have to skip the sealer(Mod Podge) at the end.

Don't forget to put in that chin line, that helps create that 3D illusion you can also add a little shading.

We do this step before the hair otherwise the kids will not leave enough room for the face.

Now we paint on the hair.

Cut a tie out of colored paper.  Now you could do a long tie as well you just wouldn't be able to add the buttons.

Glue into place.  Add buttons.

Now add the letters for "Dad".  I'm just using the cricut at school and gluing them on.  You could also have the kids draw them out on paper or type this out in computer class.

You can add a coat of sealer if you want.

Here is a shot of Grade 2 progress, just got to paint in the hair and add the tie and buttons.

That's it.

The kids are at the eye stage as of today so I'll post pictures of their work tomorrow. Should have the finished photos later today.

see ya!

Here are the results!

Great work Grade 2.

Dominoes For Dad: Father's Day Project

In coming up with Father's Day projects I was thinking about my own Dad who just loves to play games with his kids and grand kids.....so I came up with some game ideas.

First up Dominoes.


Here are 2 types of dominoes.  One made out of flat pebbles and one out of cardboard. I'll go thru both .....


 

Let's start with the cardboard ones. You'll need:
- nice stiff cardboard
- ruler and pencil
- scissors
- white paint
- sharpies
- mod podge
- wax paper
- container to keep your pieces in
- supplies to decorate your container (more on that later)

Take your stiff cardboard and using the ruler mark out 28 rectangles.  The younger grades may require some help with this part, bear in mind that they don't have to be perfect, in fact they are kinda charming being a little mis- matched!

Cut them out.

Paint white on both sides.

  Now with a classroom of kids your are saying "How can I keep them all straight?"  That's where the art board comes in handy.....the paint on top of their board and just move them onto some wax paper in the corner.....


Let dry.

Using sharpies or markers draw a line thru the middle, you can use that ruler again.

Then start making your 28 dominoes. You can use different colors as long as the number stays the same color( i.e. all 3's are purple)

Here is a little chart if you need it.

Now another thing you can do is on the back of each Domino you can put different names for Dad. 

Poll the kids to see how many you get and then add some ones in foreign languages or names of popular "Dad" characters.

Now this step is optional but it adds a finished look and makes the cardboard quite robust.

For the pebble dominoes you need to find 28 flat pebbles.

My kids are always bringing a rock home so raid the rock collection if you need to.

Now put on the dots.  You can use white paint with a fine brush....add a little water to make it flow well.  You could also use a paint pen or a sharpie.


Again, seal with Mod podge for a nice shiny look.

Now on to the container.  Check your recycling bin and pick out a good home for your dominoes.


Paint it a nice color for a base.

I found this nice photo from the Graphics Fairy and then the kids can print out the label by hand or with the computer.


Glue and then seal with ....you guessed it Mod Podge.

You can decorate it with paper dominoes.

You could also use some original artwork.


You could even decorate it like a pizza box!

I  lined the pebble Domino box with felt for an extra added touch.


You can include instructions on how to play Dominoes if needed.

That's it.

All you need to do now is play.


P.S. You have until midnight to enter the book giveaway, results tomorrow.

See you then.

Coffee Cozy for Father's Day

Wow, 3 posts in 3 days...in the midst of the Father's Day rush!

Here is the Father's Day project Grade 4 completed.  An embroidered coffee cozy.

Pretty straight forward.  I went to a local coffee shop and grabbed a cardboard cozy for my pattern.   I made a pattern out of posterboard.  I then traced out the pattern onto wool felt in a selection of colors...(I was going for masculine colors).       For tracing I used either a pencil on light colored felt or a white pencil crayon.

I gave each student a tapestry needle....tapestry needles have a blunt edge and although it's a bit harder to push thru the felt we did not have any needle sticks.                                                           I asked each student to trace out the word DAD in the center of their felt...the top of the pattern is the arc type curve.  Then using embroidery thread straight from the pkg. we pulled our thread thru the needle and knotted both ends together giving us a double strand of full thread.  This prevented the kids having to worry about pulling their end out of the eye.  We used a back stitch to embroider DAD and then they could add other designs.

One class decided to blanket stich their long sides while the other class focused on decorations.  Because it's wool felt you can finish it either way and it won't fray over time.  I then just stitched the ends together on the machine in minutes.                                    For presentation we slid each cosy over a recycled cup with a packet of gourmet instant coffee inside as well as a Father's Day poem.

That's it.  It was a quick and easy Father's Day project.