This is the second in a series of Father’s Day ideas from the heart – creative, fun, inexpensive, and most of all, memorable Father’s Day gifts you can put together with your children this year.
Daddy Books
This idea is simple, very inexpensive and gives Dad something he can hang on to for a lifetime and look back on year after year. A Daddy Book is a child’s book to Dad with pictures and expressions relaying all their favorite Daddy-related memories. All children who are verbal can create a Daddy book and all children – young and old – enjoy expressing themselves and rehashing their favorite memories this way.
Daddy Books can be as long or as short as you feel like making them. But first you need to start off by posing some simple questions to your child. If you have more than one child, each child should make his or her own Daddy Book and each child should work alone – without the influence of siblings. This way the book will really express each child’s own personality and experiences.
Here are some possible questions, in “finish this sentence” format:
- My Daddy is the silliest/funniest/craziest/goofiest Daddy because….
- My Daddy made me laugh so hard when….
- My Daddy made me very proud when….
- I know I make my Daddy proud when…
- I love it when my Daddy….
- The most special time I had with Dad this year was when….
- My favorite vacation memory with Dad was…
- I’m just like Dad ….
- My Father’s Day wish is…
- The best meal my Dad can cook is…
- Outside, Dad and I love to…
- At bedtime, Daddy always…
- I love my Daddy because…
Children who can not yet write should be able to dictate their answers while you jot them down (try to do it word for word so it sounds just like the child’s own actual words). Older children will be able to fill in the answers to these questions in the book itself. It is a good idea to make a rough draft of each answer and check for spelling or grammar if that is important to you prior to writing directly in the book.
Next you will need to construct your Daddy Book. You can make these quite easily in any word processing program or graphics program although these instructions will specifically be for Microsoft Word.
- Create a New Document.
- On the File menu, click Page Setup, and then click the Margins tab.
- In the Multiple pages list, select Book fold.
- In the Sheets per booklet list, select the number of pages you want to include in a single booklet. I like to do 8 page booklets but this is entirely personal preference.
- Click ok.
Now edit the pages of your book to reflect the questions and answers your child has dictated. If your child is hand-writing the answers, you can still add the questions to the top or bottom of each page. Leave room for an illustration, if desired. Alternatively, you can use the following page for an illustration if your child writes a lot or is writing by hand. Play around with the font, color, size, etc. Make it creative! Make sure you save your work frequently!
When you are satisfied with your Daddy Book, print a test copy. You may need to play around with this to get it exactly how you want it. When you are ready, print your final copy. Consider using card stock or fancy paper for the cover or inner pages.
To bind the Daddy Book, you can simply staple the binding or you can punch holes and let your child weave yarn, string, wire, shoelace, etc for the binding. The finished product is a nicely bound 5.5” x 8.5” Daddy Book that, after written and illustrated, will bring years or tears, laughter, enjoyment and memories to Dad on Father’s Day.
Looking for other ideas? How about a homemade stepping stone with the kids’ handprints?