The fun thing about having your own family is that you can make your own rules and holidays!  So why not declare an Orange Day on June 23. Everyone must wear orange and incorporate orange food into the meals.  Create crafts and cards around the theme for the day or week.

 To start, have your family sit down with a calendar and large piece of paper for brainstorming. List the animals, people, events they would like to honor in the next year.  Choose the dates to write on the calendar.  

Your children will be creative, but if you need a start here are a few ideas:

Pet Day:

In our house it is a cat, and all day the cat gets special treatment a new toy and a new place mat made by the children.  If you have time at your home you could make cat puppets out of paper bags, make a card for your pet and a frame with a picture of the family with the pet.

Favorite Number Day:

Make pancakes in the shapes of numbers, Count items like rocks or shells, Count and glue buttons or cotton balls on paper to make a design with the favorite number, Give the chosen number of compliments during the day, Look through magazines for the number and cut out, exercise time (Use the favorite number for the amount of exercise, how many jumping jacks, the number of minutes to run etc.)

Picnic Week:

Have a picnic everyday, even inside the house!

The possibilities are endless and the memories will last forever.  This can also be implemented in the classroom, a fun way for the children to feel ownership in their own classroom.

This can be done in several ways depending on child’s age and how much parent participation you want!

The simple version is to have plain paper and design a cover with the title, My Dad. Then on each page have your child write and illustrate the page. Some examples:

My dad is the best because _____,

I love to go _____ with my dad,

My favorite thing to do with dad,

I hope to _______with my dad,

My dad is really good at______,

His favorite thing to do with me is______.

This can be written on the computer and printed out or hand written for older children.  Real photos can be used or hand drawn.

SCRAPBOOK 

To elaborate on this idea, the book can be embellished and made into a scrapbook. Find photos of dad doing activities with the children and design pages to go with the theme. For example, if you have a hiking photo, create a page titled “I love hiking with my dad!”

Click on the link below for scrapbooking ideas and books.

If you have enough time, create a book with iphoto (for the MAC users) or any of the photo companies. These are so cool and fun to read! A great gift for anyone.

1. Keep lidless containers at your child’s shoulder level or below. This will allow him/her to easily put away items. You are also teaching responsibility and respect for things in the process.

2. Rotate toy containers every week, keeping only 3 – 5 different toys out at one time. By rotating containers, you keep toys more interesting and limit the potential mess. Store your child’s unused toys in containers with lids, in a storage closet. Out of sight, out of mind is always best.

3. Hang a clear pocket shoe organizer on the back of your child’s door, labeling each pocket to make replacing items quick. Best used for organizing hats, hair ribbons, sunglasses, belts and shoes. However, small toys can also be stored inside as well. Store items your child uses frequently at the bottom.

4. Keep floor space open by using slender furniture whenever possible. IKEA has items on a smaller scale. You can also build your own narrow bookshelf using rain gutters.

5. Store children’s clothing in low drawers or the lowest closet rod so they can help dress themselves every morning.

6. Children learn color order in preschool, if not first by their parents. Keep hanging clothes in color order. This allows you and your child to quickly pair outfits each day.

7. Keep one small laundry basket in your child’s bedroom. This will encourage you to do laundry sooner and not let clothes pile up.

8. The bedroom should be a place of rest. Avoid storing toys in the bedroom unless you lack the space elsewhere. This will also keep the bedroom open.

9. When making your child’s bed, only use a bottom sheet and a comforter. Your child will be able to make their bed if there are minimal steps.

10. Heighten your child’s bed by placing it on bed risers. This will give you added storage space. If you purchase containers on wheels, it makes sliding containers in and out manageable for anyone in the family.

Tips submitted by Jill Graham, author, professional organizer and owner of Operation: Organize! in Chandler, Arizona. For more information on her services or receiving her monthly newsletter, visit www.operationorganize.net.

You will need:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 cup instant nonfat dry milk*

*For milk allergies, you may substitute flour for the instant nonfat dry milk.

Mix together until smooth.  Of course, check for peanut allergies if using this with a class or other children.

Here is a project for the older children that are able to use a hammer. This crafty nameplate is a good gift for dad on Father’s Day or just for the child to keep him or herself. The nameplate can be hung or used as a paper weight.

What you will need:

• Flat piece of wood
• Screwdriver
• Hammer or mallet
• Pencils
• Paints and paintbrush
• Sandpaper

Draw a design around the edges of the wood and write name to fill the middle of the piece of wood.

Use the hammer to tap the blade of a screwdriver into the wood, following the lines of the design and letters.

Sand the top and the edges of the nameplate.

Paint the nameplate any color to highlight the name and design. Let it dry.

Father’s Day is a fun day to show your dad (and husband) how much you love and appreciate him. Here are a few homemade gifts to show your love!

Dad’s Pen Holder

What you will need:

• Empty container, shorter than a pen
• Construction paper
• Scissors glue and markers

Measure a rectangle piece of paper by rolling the container one full circle around on the construction paper. Cut out the rectangle.
Glue the rectangle on the container.

Cut out shapes, or use stickers to decorate. Older children can cut out tie shapes and decorate to look like dad’s ties.

Now dad had a place at home or at work to keep all of his pens handy!
I O U Book

Make an I owe You book or coupon book.

What you will need:

• Index cards or construction paper about the same size
• Hole punch
• Yarn or ribbon
• markers, pens or crayons

Think of the things you can do to help your dad. For example, “IOU an afternoon of pulling weeds with you,” or “IOU one week of taking out the trash.”

Punch two holes in one of the covers. Trace the holes on each page or IOU and the other cover so the holes will line up. Punch the holes. Put yarn or ribbon through the holes and tie in a bow.

Dad can use these coupons whenever he wishes and he will appreciate the thoughtful and helpful gift!

Foot Print

What you will need:

• Construction paper
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Markers or crayons and a pen
• Scissors

First, trace child’s footprint on the construction paper, then cut around it a much larger shoe (Dad’s pretend footprint) then cut out. The card will be in the shape of the larger footprint. On the card either write or glue the printed version of the following poem on the footprint.

Here is my little footprint
One day it will fit your shoe
I watch what you are doing
Because Daddy I want to be like you.

*Another version is to glue the larger footprint on a large colored construction paper. Punch out three pair of holes like a shoe, and use yarn to lace it up like a shoe. Place the poem next to it.

Hand Print Poem For Dad

Use paint on tiny little hands to make a hand print on a piece of construction paper. You can use a large piece of paper to laminate and make into a place mat. Next to the hand print, glue on a poem. You can print out the poem below (or your make your own poem.)

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls.

But every day I’m growing -
I’ll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away.

So here’s a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.

Think round and round for this fast and fun party!

Stop Lights
Frost graham crackers or other rectangular-shaped cookies with yellow icing. Add red, green, and yellow M&Ms to make stop light snacks. This was abig hit at our four-year olds party.

Tortilla Roll Ups or “Wheels”

I took out the seasoning and green chiles for the chlidren.

2 8oz. pkgs cream cheese
1 packet taco seasoning
black olives, chopped
green chiles, chopped
shredded cheese
package of large flour tortillas
Allow cream cheese to soften. Combine first five ingredients and spread on tortillas. Roll up and chill.
Slice into 1 inch rolls and serve with salsa.

*You can add thinly sliced deli meat such as ham or turkey to your tortilla roll ups.

Sandwiches

Use a car cookie cutter to cut out sandwiches and serve. Peanut butter and jelly work well. Another option is to buy wheat and white bread and cut out the car shape and swap the cut outs. The wheat cut out would be placed in the white bread and vice versa.

Pasta

Wheel Pasta – Use the type of pasta that looks like wheels and serve plain, with butter, mac and cheese style, or just add into your favorite pasta salad recipe.
Cake

Bake a sheet cake, and frost it white. Use black gel frosting to draw a road around the cake. Place small toy cars on the road as cake toppers. In addition, you can purchase miniature road signs to add to the cake.

Click on picture below to buy race car cake mold and decorating ideas.

Cars – The Movie

Jello

Use a round object (e.g. a cookie/biscuit cutter or the top of a glass) to cut out green, yellow, and red “Stop Light” Jell-O Jigglers.

When my son was turning four he was really into Cars, the movie but has always loved all vehicles. So the theme was easy to pick and I knew he would love it. These ideas can be for all car themes such as hot wheels, speed racer or just cars!

I started right away with buying the gifts and preparing the race track because these things take time! So, for the goodie bags we decided to give two of the Cars characters to each friend along with Cars stickers and other little things. We just ordered these direct from the Disney Store. It turns out these cars were a bit smaller than the ones we bought at KB Toy Store. Oh well. Then I contacted my dad to ask about how I could make a down hill race track, I was thinking wood. He had some really heavy cardboard and took over the task of race track maker and he did awesome. He painted the heavy cardboard black, applied wood to keep it sturdy and painted a strip to have two lanes. This was supposed to be out in our lawn area but the weather was cold and it snowed that day, we live in the desert so the likelihood of snow was not even a chance. What a birthday present! Anyway, we put the track on the patio and moved the rest of the party and arts and crafts inside.

Decorating Ideas:

-Checkered flags put outside or throughout party area.

-Make road signs and put throughout party area, or use smaller ones to write the food items on if hosting a lunch.

-Use chalk to make a road to your front door from the street to welcome guests.

-Using large (appliance) cardboard boxes make the Radiator Springs town or make cars for children to race around in. These can also be used for a game.

-Use plastic trophies to serve snacks.

Click on “Race Cars” or “Cars-the Movie” to view some of the decorating items and party favors available.

Race Cars

Cars – The Movie

Games and Activities:

Paint a Car

When the children enter have them decorate a wooden car of their choice with paint. It is important to do this first and to not use too much paint so they will dry for the race track. You can have a few pre-made just in case someone arrives late or uses too much paint. I found wood cars at Joann’s and Wal-Mart and used acrylic paint. You could use paint pens to make things easier and less of a mess.

After the crafts, activities and eating have the children race their new cars down the down hill track. See above on how to make.

Make a License Plate

Materials Needed:

Metallic poster board
Paper punch
Glitter glue and letter stickers

1. Cut metallic poster board into 6- by 11-inch rectangles and use a paper punch to make a hole near each top corner.

2. Put on sticker letters and add glitter glue borders. (To make the glitter glue stick more readily to the glossy surface, first rub the area you plan to cover with a pencil eraser.) Then you can tie string or wire to attach to their bicycles.

Car Relay
Materials:

Cardboard boxes
, Paint
, Tape
, Aluminum foil

Beforehand, you’ll need to make a car for each team. Trim off the top and bottom flaps of a cardboard box and cut a handle hole in each door panel. Paint the cars, add racing numbers. Then tape on yellow paper headlights and front grills fashioned from 3/4-inch-wide strips of aluminum foil.

At race time, the first child from each team wears a helmet and goggles and steps into his team’s car. On cue, the drivers race around a designated landmark, such as a picnic table or tree and back to the start, where they quickly give their gear over to the next person. The race continues in this manner until all the members of one team finish the course and win the game.

Make Your Own Car-Centers

Each guest gets a xerox box (which should be spray painted and a head and arm holes cut out on the bottom and sides of the box.)

The “drivers” go to the detailing center to decorate their box with name, race car number, tape mini flags or just color their box with markers. Next, they go to the tune up area, which play tools were set out.

A tire changing area, paper plates with a small circle in the middle of the plate to look like the hub cap and then put velcro on the box and the back of the plates to change their tires.

A gas station to pump their gas, You can use a rope connected to a box or cone to pretend to pump gas.

Last, a car wash. Cut strips of paper (2″x 36″) and staple them to the tops of the xerox boxes used to make the cars. When turned upside down they look like real car wash strips moving back and forth. Hang these somewhere where the children can go through them. Then let them race around!

This fun activity would be good for a smaller number of children.

Red light, Green Light

All children know this game but perfect to get children running and it goes with the theme! If you have the cardboard cars at your party this would be great to use with their cars.

Bean Bag Toss

Use a real tire for children to throw the bean bag through.

Here is a great idea sent in by a super cool mom that while re-using boxes and saving the earth is also teaching her daughter the important skill of sewing and fine motor skills.

First of all, I use flattened cardboard boxes to make templates for sewing projects. I cut around with a roller cutter.

Third,  I took inexpensive extra yarn, put a little tape at the end. I cut the cardboard into shapes of clothes (dress, sock, t-shirt, etc). I used a hole punch around the edges and taught her various stitches — up/down, round-the-back. Teaches dexterity and following a pattern. They are sort of the same idea as the “lacing shapes” that stores sell, but why buy when you can make whatever shape your kid wants so easily at home!  There must be an easy way to fashion them so kiddos can sew shapes together most simply in a square or cube?

Thanks Marisa for sharing your idea!

Get out the globe or map of the world for this fun lesson about the Earth! Discuss the equator and explore where it is and talk about the climate at the equator. Once the discussion is complete, ask why do you think it is hotter at the equator?

You will need: flashlight and white paper with a line drawn in the middle (equator).

1. Put piece of paper on table and turn off the lights in the room.

2. Aim flashlight straight down at paper. Talk about what the children see.

3. Tilt the flashlight and aim at paper. Ask the children what they notice and if it looks different.

When the sun shines on the Earth at the equator, it is more intense, just like the flashlight facing directly straight down. When you move away from the equator, the light is at an angle and therefore cooler (just like the flashlight tilted.)

After discussing the results and exploring on their own have your child or children explain in their own words what happened.