Shaving Cream Swirl Art: Father's Day Craft Idea

Father's Day is fast approaching and sometimes it can be really hard to figure out what to get Dad. When the kiddos are little homemade stuff is always a big hit and this fun activity uses some shaving cream in honor of Dear old Dad to create a beautiful tie-dyed work of art!

The activity is quite simple, so even toddlers can get in on the fun! All you need for this one is some foamy white shaving cream, a container to spray it in, some food colouring, a couple of q-tips or straws, and some white paper to make your art print on when you're finished.

Start by spraying some shaving cream into the container, you don't need a lot, just enough to make sure that you have a full coating of your tray. Once you've sprayed the shaving cream, you can smooth it out just using your hands so you're starting with a flattened surface.

Add a few drops of food colouring to the shaving cream, making sure to add 2-3 drops to each spot so you have a good little bit of colour there.

Once the colour is on the shaving cream you can start making the master piece! Use the q-tip or straw to swirl the colours around the shaving cream making all kinds of cool tie-dyed patterns. It's ok if the littles get their hands in there too--it's just shaving cream so it washes off pretty easily, although they might have some colouring left on their hands.

Once you have the colour patterning you're happy with (and you can keep adding more and more food colouring until you have the desired effect) simply place a piece of white paper on top of the shaving cream and softly rub all over the back of it pressing it down lightly into the shaving cream.

This will transfer the colour from the food colouring onto the paper. If you rub the paper lightly down into the shaving cream you should get the colour to transfer without having too much of the shaving cream stick to the paper.

Once you have your print simply set the sheets aside to dry and tidy up! The extra shaving cream that stuck to the paper will absorb in to the paper as you let it dry.

Once your papers are dry you can do anything you like with them! You could write a message right on to the picture, or cut out a tie-dyed hand print or heart to use in a card. The possibilities are endless! Make sure you snap a few photos of the process too so Dad can see his little having fun playing with the shaving cream.

Father's Day Craft Idea #3 : I Love You THIS Much!

The third and last Father's Day craft idea that I'd like to share with you is for those who don't like to get dirty, but would still like to include their little one's hand print somehow to make it a little more personalized.

All you need is some construction paper, a pencil, some scissors and a marker!

Simply trace your little ones hands on the construction paper and cut them out. On the front hand write "I Love You." Then cut out a long strip and fold it back and forth like an accordion. Then, on each little square of the accordion write a single letter from the phrase, "This Much," and trim off any excess. Glue your phrase onto each of the hands and you're done!

You can make this one as colourful as you'd like and the handprints will make a nice keepsake! Show Dad how much you love him with a personalized card.

Father's Day Craft #2

Yesterday we looked at a fun footprint craft for Dad in the shape of a Bee and Butterfly. Here's another cute and simple idea for making a Father's Day Craft that your little one can get involved with. This one works especially well for the littler little ones who aren't going to be able to make a solid handprint very well since the point is to intentionally make a "muddled up" handprint!

One you've printed your three handprints you can glue on some googly eyes, draw on extra facial features, and write on your message for Dad! Older kids can write their own names on too for an added personal touch.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another simple and fun craft idea for Dad's Father's Day gift!

Father's Day Craft Ideas #1

If you're like me, you have no real idea what to give your husband/partner for Father's Day. Last year I had a little photo shoot done with our then 7 week old son, and this year I'd like him to be a little more actively involved in the gift making process.

One of the best ways to have young kids participate in artwork making is to do hand/footprints with paint! So we hosted a craft making party for all of the boy-o's little friends and made some awesome artwork for Dad.

The first example of what we came up with is the Bee/Butterfly combo.

To start with I drew a long skinny oval for each of the bodies, which helped to line up where to print the footprint onto the paper. We did the footprints so that the smaller edge of the foot was against the bug's body (big toe on the outside) to make the wings as big as we could. For the bee we just stamped in yellow and I painted on the stripes afterwards. For the butterfly I applied all three colours to the boy-o's foot at once. 

Once the paint was dried we added a bit of glue and stuck on some googly eyes, and presto--footprint bugs are complete! It was a lot of fun to make, and they turned out super cute. You could add a sweet message to the page or personalize however you'd like. Just make sure you remember to add the date so if you keep it you can remember what year it's from.

More examples to come of Father's Day craft ideas in the next few days...so stay tuned!