Little kids love getting crafty, but their fine motor skills are often not developed enough to manage traditional arts and crafts supplies. By simplifying the tools toddlers and preschoolers use to create their masterpieces, you can ensure a positive art experience with wonderful results. And you can’t get much simpler than the hand- and fingerprint art project ideas below!

Fun with flamingos

Flamingos are a childhood favorite, perhaps because of their comical leg length and bright pink coloring. With some detailing assistance from you, your child can craft his or her own handprint flamingo! Place your child’s hand in a plate or pie tin of pink paint, then press onto your paper at a slight angle, palm to the bottom edge of your sheet. Flip the page and have your little one finger paint yellow legs and blue water. Add a beak and you’ve got a flamingo-scape art project!

Pretty peacock

Speaking of birds, your child’s handprint can also make a pretty peacock! Just press a hand dipped or painted in blue paint flat onto the center of your paper, then use markers to add legs, curly head feathers, a beak, and other colorful details. You may even want to get out the glue and let your child add real feathers, pipe cleaners, sequins, beads, and more to complete this magnificent art project.

Feeling crabby

Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Turn that frown upside-down! Printing two hands, wrist to wrist, in red paint creates the body of a crab. Once dry, have your child dip a finger in white paint and press to the center of the thumbprints, then add a dot of black marker to create the eyes. Add red pincher claws and it’s done!

Beautiful butterfly

Brighten Grandma’s day with a beautiful butterfly handprint piece! You’ll need to paint the body first – a simple tube with a round head and antennae on top. Then, using a different color for each print, have your child print two handprints on each side, wrists to the butterfly’s body, to create the wings.

Crafty caterpillar

First, paint your child’s palm green and fingers blue (don’t paint the thumb). Next, press three prints in a row, green palms side-by-side, in the center of your page. Flip the paper so the fingers point down and you’ve got your body’s critter. Rinse your little one’s hands and paint the palm only in red. Press the red palm above a green palm on either end to add the head. Finger paint two antennae and thumbprint two white eyes to create your very own version of that junk-food junkie!

Thumbprint dandelion

Create a colorful garden in your kitchen with this multi-colored thumbprint project! You’ll need to draw the stem, center, and extending lines with a marker. Then have your child dip his or her thumb in one color and print at the end of several of the lines you drew. Wipe and dip in another color and repeat until all lines are capped with thumbprints.

Grab some paper and tempera paints and try one of these creative craft ideas today – and be sure to email some pix to us at blog@learningresources.com

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