1990
Father’s Day Crafts
June 1990

“Father’s Day Crafts,” Friend, June 1990, 22

Father’s Day Crafts

Fish Mobile

By Laura Arlon

To make a fish mobile to give to your father or to hang in your room, you will need: lightweight cardboard; a paper punch; cellophane or colored tissue paper; dark-colored, heavy-duty thread; two drinking straws; black construction paper; a needle; a pencil; glue; and small, sharp-pointed scissors.

  1. Trace the pattern onto the cardboard, then cut out the cardboard pattern, including the inside design. Use the paper punch to cut out eyes.

    Fish mobile

  2. Carefully trace around the pattern ten times onto the black construction paper to make five identical pairs of fish.

  3. Glue one fish to the colored cellophane or tissue paper, and trim off any excess. Turn the cellophane or tissue paper over and glue another fish onto the other side. Repeat the process with additional fish, using different colors of tissue or cellophane in between each pair.

  4. Make a small needle hole in the top fin of each fish.

  5. Thread the needle with a 5′ (1.5 m) piece of thread. Poke the needle through both sides of the middle of one straw, leaving 7″ (18 cm) of thread on one side. Knot the thread on each side of the straw so that it will not slip. Now poke the needle through the middle of the second straw, leaving 7″ (18 cm) between the straws, then tie knots in the thread on both sides of the second straw. Use the remaining thread later to hang the mobile.

  6. Push a 12″ (30.5 cm) piece of thread through the length of each straw. Tie a fish to each of the four thread ends and one to the 7″ (18 cm) center thread.

  7. Hang the mobile, and move the threads through the straws until it is balanced and the fish appear to be swimming freely.

Gardening Gloves

By Corliss Clayton

You will need: a pair of light-colored fabric gardening gloves, a pencil, newspaper, a paintbrush, acrylic paints, clean bottle lids, and a permanent black felt-tip marker.

  1. Lightly draw a design on the gloves with the pencil, copying the designs shown or creating your own.

  2. Use the bottle lids as palettes to mix the colors. Working on the newspaper, paint the design on the glove. Rinse out your brush well with water when changing colors and after you have finished.

  3. After the paint has dried, use the marker to outline and to add black details.

Photo by Jed Clark; Illustrated by Jeanette Andrews