Make Father's Day Home Made for Hopkinton Dads

With Father's Day on June 19, it's time to think about ways to honor that special dad or grandfather in your life.

While a fuzzy pair of slippers or a new shirt are welcome gifts, home-made gifts from you or the kids adds a special touch to any Father's Day celebration.

Here are some ideas:

1. Chore-Coupon Books: Fold and cut any colored-construction paper in half. Hole punch and tie string or bow to bind pages together into booklet. Ask kids which, non-regular chores they would like to help dad with, i.e., stacking wood, painting a fence, building a birdfeeder, polishing wood, etc..  Have kids write down their ideas and add colorful pictures to each page. Be creative!

2. Tie-Card: Fold colored construction paper into a necktie shape. Hint: Enchanted Learning website has templates. Ask kids to color the front of the tie with their favorite design. On the back, have them write reasons why their dad or grandfathers are special.

3. Rustic Twig Frame: Cut out recent, favorite picture of children and ask kids to find 8-small twigs. Glue two twigs around each side of the picture. Yarn or twine can be used to bind twigs together to add a special rustic effect.

4. Write 10 Things about Dad: On lined or colored-construction paper, ask kids to write 10 things about their dad, i.e. "My father helps me with ...", "My dad is special because ..." or " My father likes to ..."  Decorate page with colorful pictures.

5. Find Eight Adjectives Describing Your Dad: On a piece of construction paper, ask kids to draw a large circle in the middle with his name on it. Draw 8-circles around it and draw lines connecting each circle to the middle. Have kids write down adjectives that best describe their dad. 

6. Essay Topic: How are you like your father?  Ask kids to write a short or long paragraph describing how they are like their father. Do they look like him? What type of personality traits do they share? Do they share the same interests? What type of sports do they have in common?

7. Essay Topic 2: Another short paragraph idea is for kids to write about the best advice their father gave them. What was it and why is it important to them now? How has this advice affected them in class, sports or in everyday life.

8. Acrostic Poem: On a clean sheet of lined paper, or hand-drawn lined construction paper. Ask kids to write down the letters, MY FATHER vertically on the page. Using each letter, have kids write a poem about their father.

There are many other creative ways to make homemade gifts for dad, photo collages with captions, decorative boxes with treasures found in the back yard, paintings or poems.

 Channel your inner Emerson or Monet! Be creative!

"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me."  North Carolina State Basketball Coach Jim Valvano, 1946-1993.