You don’t need to spend lots of money to make Father’s Day special for Dad.
There’s lots of easy things you can do together that are cheap and fun for all the family.
And who says you can only celebrate on the Sunday?
We’ve gathered together seven ideas that will let you celebrate for a whole week. This will help make the day itself, and the run up, a special bonding time for Dad and the whole family.
1. Make a Father’s Day card
Let’s start with the basics – having a card ready and waiting for Sunday.
This is a great chance to get the paper, pencils and crayons out with your little one and get creating a masterpiece for Dad.
Encourage your child to draw something special for Dad and talk to them about what they’re drawing.
Let them take the lead and name the things they’re drawing.
If they’re able to say the names themselves, try and extend their sentences: ‘Yes that’s a football – Daddy likes football’. You could draw a picture at the same time, and talk about what you're drawing.
This can encourage kids to chat about their pictures more than asking questions does.
If you have different craft materials like felt, cotton wool or shiny paper, encourage your child to feel the different textures and use words for how they look and feel, like ‘sparkly’, ‘soft’ or ‘fluffy’.
2. Have a Father’s Day picnic
You don’t need to wait until Sunday to have some special fun with Dad.
Why not gather the family together – Dad, Mum and siblings, as well as your extended family of teddy bears or dolls – for a special picnic to honour Dad?
This could even be a bit of an evening ‘slumber party’ if Dad is working during the day.
You could prepare some real toddler-friendly treats for your picnic, but pretend play can be just as good for developing their social skills through role play.
Practise taking turns with them to pour out the tea, and share out the food.
See if your child can follow simple instructions to hand out food, e.g. 'give the cake to dolly', 'give a cherry to Daddy', and your child will be practicing their listening skills at the same time.
3. Prepare a performance for Dad
Why not spend some time planning a performance together for Sunday?
This could be as simple as changing the words to a nursery rhyme or favourite song to be about Dad.
You could encourage older pre-school children to have a think about different rhyming words and words starting with the same sounds that they could use in the song.
If you want to do something a little more elaborate, toddlers and pre-schoolers will love making some homemade instruments together and becoming little rock stars.
Let Dad decide whether he wants the music 'loud' or 'quiet', 'fast' or 'slow', and your child will be learning important concept words at the same time.
Just don’t expect the music to be a masterpiece – I’m sure it won’t matter to Dad!
4. Plan a meal for Sunday
Have a little think about what meal you can cook with Dad on Sunday.
You might want to ask your little one to choose between some options of Dad’s favourites and let them have a say.
We’ve got a few ideas of toddler-friendly foods you can try if you need inspiration.
Once you’ve bought your ingredients and got them home, talk through all the things in your shopping bag, naming them and deciding where to put them.
You could also take a moment to think about ways you can get them involved when you cook.
Could they count out ingredients? Mix them? If it’s safe, they could have a little taste of some of the ingredients.
Talk to them about the tastes and textures – ‘is the lemon sour?’, ‘does the mashed potato feel creamy?’.
Talk about what your child is doing as they help, so they can learn lots of action words: ‘stirring’, ‘pouring’, ‘squishing’, ‘spreading’.
5. Make a ‘Dad Den’
Why not make a den together with Dad? You could even leave it up all weekend as a cosy retreat.
As you make the den, let your little one take the lead and tell you about what they’re doing.
Building a den is great for letting their imaginations run wild – it could be a home for some teddies or a great place to snuggle up with a book together.
6. Make a crafty present
You don’t have to spend money to impress Dad, chances are he’ll love something your little one has made for him.
You could try making a scrapbook with family pictures, giving you chance to chat about all the days out you’ve had in the past.
You could make a puzzle to piece together out of a poster or magazine image.
Or you could head out and make a nature collection of interesting bits and bobs from the garden or park.
6. Enjoy the day together
It’s time to enjoy the day with Dad.
Let your little one talk him through the card and present they’ve made. Put on that song and dance performance for him – though you might want to let him enjoy a morning cuppa first!
In the afternoon, think about cooking together and if you can sneak in a visit or video call to Grandad.
As evening descends, cosy up with a story in the Dad Den to round off a day of bonding and memory-making.
We understand that Father’s Day can be a tough time of year for some children and parents, particularly those that have lost their dad or if they’ve lost a child themselves. Child Bereavement UK and Winston’s Wish have ideas and advice that may help support bereaved children and parents on Father’s Day.
