Week Two - Night Sky - Craft Time

I have a bunch of crafts to choose from today. I will start with the ones for father's day and move to the space/night sky theme.

Father's Day:

I found some great free printables for a superhero themed gift for dad. This can easily be personalized, and if your house is anything like mine your kids will get a kick out of talking about superheroes. All you will need is card stock (thick paper - but it can be regular paper if you don't have any), a printer, and if you want to add a gift - some of Dad's favorite snacks.

First the card. From Kiki & Company and featured on Today's Creative Blog comes an adorable plaque for dad. It reads: "The most incredible, powerful, strong & daring superhero lives here. We know him as dad."Suggestions for making this personal: Have your child draw a picture of "Dad the Superhero" either on the back or a separate piece of paper. If you do a separate paper frame both together either with actual frames or paper ones. If you are doing it on the back, add a piece of yarn or ribbon to hang on Dad's door. If you have access to it, laminate it! Kiki & Company has a whole adorable set that you can get free for signing up for her newsletter.

You can also ask your child some great questions and help them write their answers. I have provided a sheet for Dads (below), Papas, and Grandpas. If you would like another version - leave a comment and I will post.
My Superhero Dad

For the gift: Alpha Mom has a great printable to place on all of dad's favorite snacks. You will need a printer, glue or tape, and nice bags (if you want them). Alpha Mom also suggests a wooden box to keep the treats, but I think they are cute enough to stand alone, or go in a gift bag. Combine this with the Superhero craft above and I think you have a sweet gift. You could also theme the snacks and add a movie (Sherlock Holmes 2 just came out and might be a dad fav) or a TV series. Have fun!

Crafts for the Night Sky:

I have two great options this week, all from Busy Bee Kids Crafts.

This is a great time to talk about traveling to space. Here are some great resources to explain the solar system and space travel from KidsAstronomy.com. The site is interactive, so have the kids nearby and ready to help navigate. I love the questions below to help me answer little man's questions.

First option, create a space shuttle. This is a super simple way to create an eye catching rocket to the stars. Kids will love launching these - and how often do you have a craft that they can play with?  Suggestions: set rules on how high it can fly - if it is a concern perhaps a toilet paper role would be better (and lighter). This would make a great indoor activity on a rainy day, especially with high ceilings. If you have several rolls - make a couple of rockets. "Race" them - see how far the go, launch them together, etc.

Second option, help them make a planetarium you can hang on their window. Construction paper, glitter glue, and wax paper are all that is needed to create a very cool discussion piece. I love how the sites planets look perfect ever though they are created from construction paper - but lets be real - not all of us are that artistically capable. Feel free to print out your planets after running a quick google search. If nothing else you can use them as guides (especially if you find your inner artistic paper goddess) or be like the rest of us and use the printed version - card stock for those will probably be best.

This is a ton to do, but I didn't want to wait until the last minute to give you Father's Day options. Hopefully this can help reduce stress instead of causing it. Enjoy the time with your little ones!