Making crafts is a great way for children to show appreciation for their loved ones while practicing their skills. A holiday like Father's Day can be a great opportunity for your preschoolers to create crafts or art projects for the father figures in their lives.

This article lists craft ideas that will help children develop their fine motor skills, practice pattern recognition, and identify shapes and colors, while also teaching them the importance of expressing gratitude.

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Teaching children gratitude with Father's Day crafts

Having your preschoolers make crafts for Father's Day helps them develop empathy as they consider what their caregiver likes. Giving gifts to their loved ones promotes children's social-emotional development and helps them practice their social skills.

Creating Father's Day gifts also teaches children the importance of expressing gratitude. When a family member expresses gratitude for a gift by saying thank you, it shows the child how they should react when they receive a gift and how they should show gratitude to others.

However, Father's Day can be difficult for children who don't have a father. In these situations, you can remind your preschoolers that Father's Day is a day to celebrate all of the father figures in their lives, whether they're a father, a stepfather, a grandfather, an uncle, another family member, or a family friend.

If time allows, you may want to encourage your children to make more than one craft, so they can show their appreciation for all of the father figures in their lives. This can help children who don't have a father feel more comfortable. For instance, if one of your preschoolers is making a craft for their father and their uncle, a child who doesn't have a father may feel better about creating a craft for their uncle instead of their father.

Improving children's fine motor skills with Father's Day crafts

Fine motor skills are abilities that allow children to control the small muscles in the hands. Children need to develop fine motor skills before they can learn to independently complete daily living tasks such as tying their shoes and buttoning their clothes.

You can help your preschoolers strengthen their fine motor skills by teaching them to make Father's Day crafts that give them opportunities to use scissors and glue sticks, fold paper, draw pictures, finger paint, and mold clay.

Using Father's Day crafts to teach children pattern recognition

Children are naturally attuned to patterns in their environment. Pattern recognition is an important skill that your preschoolers will need to strengthen as they learn early math skills.

Crafting allows children to experiment with patterns. You can give your preschoolers crafting supplies in various colors, sizes, shapes, and materials and ask them to create patterns or identify patterns in the crafts they've made. For example, if your children are using buttons to decorate a craft, you can create a pattern based on the sizes of the buttons and ask a child to say the pattern (e.g., big, small, big, small, big) and predict the size of the next button in the pattern.

Using Father's Day crafts to teach children about shapes and colors

Making crafts is an easy way for children to learn about shapes and colors. You can encourage your preschoolers to layer different colors of crayons, markers, or paint to teach them about color mixing. Additionally, having children draw lines, curves, and simple shapes when making their crafts will teach them important pre-writing skills that will help them learn to write letters and numbers.

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Father's Day crafts for preschoolers

Making crafts with your preschoolers will help them strengthen their skills and give them handmade keepsakes they can share with their families to show their love and gratitude. A tool like brightwheel's lesson plan feature can help you easily create a Father's Day lesson that includes these fun crafts.

Heart fingerprint craft

This heart fingerprint craft can help children learn to recognize shapes and colors and strengthen their fine motor skills as they stamp their fingerprints around a paper heart to create an art piece.

For this craft, you'll need:

• A Dad template
• Acrylic paint in various colors
• Silver cardstock
• White paper
• Scissors
• Masking tape

Instructions:

Follow these steps to help your preschoolers make their own heart fingerprint crafts:

• Print the Dad template onto a piece of silver cardstock.
• Cut out a large heart shape from a sheet of white paper.
• Place the paper heart in the middle of the silver cardstock so it's centered over the word "Dad." Tape the edges of the heart to the cardstock to keep it in place. Be sure to leave enough room around the heart for the child's fingerprints.
• Pour paint onto a paper plate. Have the child dip their finger into the paint and stamp their fingerprints onto the cardstock, around the heart. Repeat this process and stamp different colors of fingerprints on the cardstock. Be sure the child stamps the entire area around the heart with fingerprints.
• Carefully peel the paper heart from the cardstock and set aside to dry.

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Mess-free heart painting

This mess-free heart painting activity is a great way for preschoolers to strengthen their fine motor skills and experiment with paint mixing.

For this craft, you'll need:

• Washable paint or non-toxic acrylic paint
• Two pieces of white cardstock
• Cardboard
• A large resealable plastic bag
• Glue stick
• Marker

Instructions:

• Place drops of paint on a piece of cardstock and seal the cardstock in a large resealable plastic bag.
• Have your preschooler mix the paint on the cardstock by pressing on the plastic bag to move the paint around.
• Once your preschooler has completed their painting, remove the cardstock from the plastic bag and use another piece of cardboard to scrape off any clumps of excess paint.
• Set the cardstock aside to dry completely.
• Once the painting has dried, cut the painting into the shape of a heart.
• Write "Happy Father's Day" at the top of the other piece of cardstock. Glue the heart onto the center of the white cardstock.

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Fingerprint plate

This fingerprint plate is a convenient keepsake where family members can store their coins, jewelry, or keys. This craft helps preschoolers strengthen their fine motor skills and identify shapes and colors.

For this craft, you'll need:

• Air-dry clay
• Paint
• A rolling pin
• Paintbrushes
• A pencil

Instructions:

• Help your preschooler use a rolling pin to roll the air-dry clay out into a circle.
• Have your preschooler fold up the edges of the clay to form the dish. As they fold up the edges, they may create indents of their fingers in the edge of the clay, which will give the dish a unique personal touch.
• Use a pencil to etch the words "We" or “I” and "Daddy" into the clay. (You can also ask your preschooler if they would like to make the dish for another father figure, such as an uncle or grandfather, and write the family member on the dish.) Leave space between the word "We" or “I” and the name for the fingerprint heart.
• Have your preschooler use their thumb to create two indentations in the plate in the shape of a heart.
• Leave the plate to dry and harden. After the plate has hardened, have your preschooler paint the plate with a light paint color.
• Use a darker paint color to trace the pencil etching on the plate to make it easier to see.
• Have your preschooler paint the thumbprint heart.
• Set the fingerprint plate aside to dry.

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Fish handprint card

You can use this fish handprint card to help your preschoolers develop fine motor skills.

For this craft, you'll need:

• Blue, white, and orange cardstock
• Small googly eyes
• Glue
• A black, fine-tipped marker
• White pom poms
• A popsicle stick
• String or cotton twine

Instructions:

• Use a black, fine-tipped marker to draw a wavy horizontal line across a piece of blue cardstock.
• Help your preschooler cut along the wavy line.
• Fold a piece of white cardstock in half to create the card. Glue the wavy piece of blue cardstock to the front to create the card's ocean background.
• Fold a piece of orange cardstock in half. Place your preschooler's hand in the middle of the piece of folded cardstock, with their wrist on the fold.
• Trace your preschooler's hand with the marker.
• Help your preschooler cut out their hand shape. Be sure to cut through both halves of the folded cardstock.
• Have the child add two googly eyes to the handprint and draw a smile to create a fish. Help the child glue the fish onto the blue cardstock.
• Tie a piece of string or cotton twine to a popsicle stick to create a fishing rod.
• Help your preschooler glue the popsicle stick to the upper half of the card and glue the end of the string or twine inside the fish handprint.
• Have the child glue white pom poms to the blue cardstock to create bubbles in the water.
• Write "Hooked on Daddy" (or Grandpa, Uncle, etc.) to the top of the card. Write "Happy Father's Day!" inside the fish handprint.

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Father's Day tie card

This Father's Day tie card is a simple Father's Day craft that can help preschoolers strengthen their fine motor skills and practice making patterns.

For this craft, you'll need:

• Construction paper in two colors (you can have your preschooler choose any two colors, or ask them if they know their father figure's favorite color and use that color in two different shades)
• Cardstock
• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pen

Instructions:

• Have your preschooler cut the construction paper into strips. It's okay if the strips don't all have the same length and width.
• Help your preschooler fold a piece of cardstock in half to make a card.
• Have your preschooler glue the strips of construction paper along the front of the card, alternating the colors to create a horizontal pattern.
• Help your preschooler cut the strips to trim the excess construction paper from the card.
• Draw a necktie in the middle of a piece of printer paper and cut out the shape to leave a tie-shaped hole in the paper.
• Have your preschooler glue the piece of printer paper over the construction paper pattern to create a patterned tie. Trim any excess printer paper from the card.
• Write "Happy Father's Day" on the card.

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Final thoughts

These crafts are a great way to help children create personalized gifts that their families will cherish. Whether your preschoolers make Father's Day crafts for their fathers or other father figures, they'll be making memories and building cognitive, fine motor, and social-emotional skills that will last a lifetime.