Handprint angel

(This idea came home from school.)

Materials:

• large sheet of thick paper
• at least four colours of finger paint
• smock for covering child's clothing
  

Instructions:

• decide on the colour of the angel's body
• paint child's hand with "body" colour and create handprint in middle of the page
• clean hand
• paint both of child's hand with "wing" colour and create wings on either side of the body
• let paint dry
• have child pick colours for angel's face and hair, paint same and let dry
• use "body" colour to create "shoulders" attaching the body to the wings
• have child paint eyes and mouth on face
• you now have a handprint angel!
  

Reindeer antler headband

(This idea came home from school.)

Materials:

• 2 sheets of coloured construction paper, about 16cm x 30cm (3" x 12 ") to make the headband - red shown
• brown construction paper, big enough to cut out two child size hands (antlers)
  
• pencil for tracing hands
• scissors
• clear tape
  
• stickers, markers, glue etc for decorating headband
  

Instructions:

• fold the coloured construction paper in half lengthwise (so you have two sheets 8cm x 30cm)
• slip one of the folded sheets inside the other (keeping the folded edges in the same orientation) overlaping about 5cm (2") and tape to hold in place
• optional: have child decorate construction paper (dry fit around child's head so you know where the decorations should stop)
  
• have an adult wrap the length of construction paper around the circumference of the child's head and tape to fit
• have an adult trace the child's open hands on the brown construction paper
• have an adult cut out the hand outlines, being sure to include 3cm (1") for the wrists
• tape the cut out hands by the wrists to the inside of the headband, opposite each other
• outfit your little reindeer with their new antlers!
  

Hand flower

This was created at our local Ontario Early Years Centre.

Materials:

• construction paper of contrasting colours (petals and centre)
• glue
• pencil (with which to trace little hands)
• scissors
  

Instructions:

• have an adult trace four or five hands on construction paper (petals) -- if you are giving this as a gift, it is a nice touch to have one hand per member of the family!
• have an adult cut out the hands
• have an adult cut out a circle for the centre of the flower (the one shown is about 10cm in diameter)
• have child glue the hands to the back of the flower centre
• if desired, improvise stem with popsicle stick, pipe cleaner or construction paper (alternately glue the whole thing on a large piece of paper and draw the stem in -- along with flowers and birds!)

Handprint placemat

(This idea came home from school.)

Materials:

• large sheet of coloured construction paper
• smaller sheet of white paper (shown cut with scalloped edges)
• marker / crayon for drawing on paper
• fingerpaint for making handprint
• glue
• smocks to keep child and adults clean
• clear contact paper or laminate large enough to cover the sheet of construction paper
  

Instructions:

• write any messages ("Happy Mother's Day," "Happy Father's Day," "Happy Birthday" etc) on the white sheet of paper leaving room for two handprints
• have child make handprints around text
• glue white sheet of paper to construction paper
• laminate

This is a terrific gift idea for a "special" occasion such as Mother's Day, Father's Day or a parent / grandparent birthday!

Happy Mother's Day!

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Christmas hand print tree

(This idea came home from school.)

Materials:

• large sheet of paper
• red and green finger paint
• brown marker
• yellow construction paper cut into the shape of a star
• glue
• smocks to keep child and adults clean

Instructions:

• have the child make a row of five green palm-prints, side by each, about 20cm (4 inches) from the bottom of the page
• have the child make a row of four 4 palm prints above that
• again with three, two and one final palm print at the top of the "tree"
• use red paint on fingertips to paint tree decorations / ornaments
• glue the yellow star at the top of the tree
• draw in a brown tree trunk at the bottom of the tree (alternately, use brown paint to paint a trunk or make a construction paper trunk)