A Fun Book (Series) & Easy Shirt & Tie Card!
After reading Todd Parr’s “The Grandpa Book” we decided to create an Easy Shirt & Tie Card for Father’s Day! My daughter was skeptical that it would be as easy as I claimed, but she quickly discovered it is indeed extremely simple to make! I’m excited to walk you through how we made this Easy Shirt & Tie Card, so let’s get started…
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Summary of “The Grandpa Book”
“The Grandpa Book” by Todd Parr is a fun book about grandpas. It is a sweet tribute to all the things that make grandpas special & all that we love about them. Every time we read this book we can’t help but blurt out, “Yep that’s definitely MY grandpa!”. This year it is an extra important read as my husband has recently been promoted to Grandpa, so now we get to find out what type of grandpa he is!
If you’re looking for more bookish play with books featuring Grandpa’s, you might wanna check out our Painting with Blocks, Watercolor Art, or Origami Bird Mobile posts!
How We Made This Easy Shirt & Tie Card…
We tend to keep the activities as simple as possible around here. We’re not interested in complicated or costly. We are also all about fostering independence. For this activity we took the watercolor art we made HERE, and some recycled process art, and turned them into an Easy Shirt & Tie Card for Father’s Day!
This is a project I used to do long ago in my classroom teaching days. Its great for all ages and is a lot easier to make than it looks. First, we took the watercolor art we made recently, folded it in half, cut the top towards the center without cutting anything off. Then we folded that cut part to be the collar and added some buttons. We chose to use glue dots for this one because although they can be a bit tricky to use, trying to hold the collar down with liquid or stick glue I’m sure would be more challenging.
Next, we sifted through our recycled process art and chose the pattern we each wanted for our ties. Then we cut the tie out and stuck it onto the shirt. You could always add a pocket if you wanted to. Once we photocopied a dollar bill, had the kids color it with crayons and had it sticking out of the pocket. I’ve also seen teachers put a small photo of the child or a heart in the pocket which is adorable too. But we kept it simple.
Lastly, we opened the card, wrote a message & signed it!
Wait?!? Am I Supposed To Be Making One Too?
I highly recommend getting hands on and doing art projects with your child. If you’d rather not, thats okay too, but please do not correct anything they do. If you want the art to look a certain way – make your own.
Especially if your child is little, its okay if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined. Maybe its what they imagined. Also, its a process. They are learning. They will learn more through trial and error than if you correct them or do it for them. All they will learn if you “help” is that they didn’t do a good enough job on their own or they can’t do it; not exactly the message you want to give your kid. Am I right?!?
Believe me, I know it can be really challenging to let them make “mistakes”. Try doing the project along side them. It will allow you to focus on your own work, give them appropriate modeling of how to use the materials, and show them that you like art too! A lot of what I talk about in “What about the Sensory Mess?” applies to Art projects as well, you might wanna check it out! I love how each art has its own identity. I would suggest making our Easy Shirt & Tie Card if you’re looking for a simple and thoughtful art activity to connect with your child.
Materials We Used
- “The Grandpa Book” book (from the library or buy it here)
- Cardstock paper
- Scissors
- Small buttons
- Glue dots
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
How to Make an Easy Shirt & Tie Card?
- Lay the white cardstock paper vertically.
- Fold it in half towards you.
- With the folded crease on top, cut each side about 3.5 inches towards the center keeping the paper intact.
- Place a glue dot on the underside of both cut strips.
- Fold the strips towards the center like a collar and stick it down.
- Add a glue dot to each button and stick them to the both sides of the collar.
- Cut a tie out of recycled process art paper.
- Add a glue dot to the top center underside of the tie and stick it to the card.
- Open the card and add your message.
Click HERE for Free Printable copy (Email Subscribers Only)
Wait, There’s More…
I believe you can easily strengthen communication skills and foster independence all while playing and connecting with your child. To help you do this; I’ve created a FREE printable for each activity called, “Communicating & Connecting”.
It will give you a list of suggestions I’ve found very helpful as a Mom & as a special education teacher; to help you build lifelong skills. Please don’t feel obligated to do everything on the list (but if you do, you’re a rockstar 😉 ).
As a Thank You for subscribing; this is a special FREEBIE for our Email Subscribers Only. 🙂 Click here if you’ve already subscribed. Otherwise, Sign Up below to get the password & access to our entire FREE Printables Library today! 😉
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