10 Summer themed easy handprint crafts for kids!
Today I am not only so excited to bring you another fun handprint craft collection (see our Valentine’s Handprint Crafts and St. Patrick’s Day Handprint Crafts here,) but also to be guest posting over at one of my favorite blogs, Skip to my Lou! I have a huge summer handprint collection so I am sharing 5 right here and another 5 (totally adorable, I might add! You have to see the flamingos!) over at Skip to my Lou!
It is getting pretty toasty here, and by toasty I mean we might actually turn into toast in this triple digit weather! With two preschoolers mostly trapped inside we have begun to live by the proverb, necessity is the mother of invention. We have been getting very creative with our activities to keep idle hands busy and out of trouble! These handprint crafts took up the better part of an afternoon and the kids always get super excited about getting a little messy!
All you need to start is:
- Paper – I use computer paper or construction paper. {If you want to frame the art, you might want to precut your paper to 8×10, or your preferred size}
- Kids Washable Poster Paint- This is the paint we use!
- Paint brush – Anything you can spread paint all over those hands is fine!
- Wet paper towels- To wipe messy hands
- Anxious little hands- Sorry, you can’t get these on Amazon, you will have to supply your own!
Here are the masterpieces!
1. Bird Handprint Craft
To make these sweet little birds that chirp at the crack of dawn all summer long, choose a paint color and paint the entire hand with that color.
Have your kiddo keep all of their fingers tightly together and press the hand firmly to the paper. Repeat for multiple birds.
Once the paint has dried, use a marker to draw on a beak, some little legs and add in a tree branch sun, or any scenery that you want. Last, glue on a googley eye or just make a dot with a marker.
2. Butterfly Handprint Craft
With all of the summer blooms, you are sure to see more than a few butterflies over the summer! Remember your time outside enjoying nature by making this handprint butterfly.
First choose the wing color and paint almost all of each hand except for the thumb extending down to the palm. Rinse your brush and then paint the thumb straight down to the bottom of the palm black.
Press the first hand down with the thumb extended and the fingers spread apart on to the page. I find it is easier for little hands to often press their hand down with the thumb pointing down and then after the handprints are done you can flip the page 180˚ to have the picture face the right way. Repeat with the second hand overlapping the prints at the thumb.
If you want your butterfly to have multiple colors you can either paint the palm with more colors or use your finger to make polka dots as we did here.
Once the paint has dried, use a marker to add little curly antenna and glue on two eyes to your butterfly.
3. American Flag Handprint Craft
Everyone’s favorite summer holiday has to be the 4th of July, right?! What a great way to talk about the importance of our day of independence and the people that sacrifice so much so we can enjoy it, than by making your own American Flag out of your kid’s handprint!?
Start by painting the top left quarter of the hand blue including the thumb. Next alternate painting red and white stripes down the length of the remaining part of your child’s hand. Make sure to wash the brush between each color or use multiple brushes!
Have your child squeeze their fingers together and press the hand down on the paper. Once the flag is transferred onto the paper, have your child use their finger to dot white “stars” onto the blue quadrant of the flag.
Let it dry and then use markers to draw a flag pole, some grass and what ever other patriotic scenery you and your kiddo can come up with!
4. Sun Handprint Craft
As I mentioned earlier it is HOT and sunny here! No summer handprint series would be complete for us with out a big sun!
Paint your kiddo’s entire hand yellow and have them press it to the paper with their fingers spread to make the rays of the sun. Repaint and repeat around in a circle until your complete the circle to form the entire sun!
5. Fish Handprint Craft
We are doing so many things this summer that these little fish remind us of! We have a trip to the aquarium, a family vacation to the beach and we are watching Finding Nemo under the stars at the park! We wanted to remember all of these with our little handprint fish!
Decide on the color for your fish and paint the hand that color. If you want to make a “Nemo fish” then paint the palm orange and leave blank stripes you can come back and fill in with white paint (similar to how we did the flag.) Press the hand to the paper with the fingers tightly together and repeat for remaining fish.
Once the paint is dry, use a marker to add mouths and bubbles for the fish and some waves in the water. Glue on the little eyes to complete your fish.
Simple as that you have 5 summer inspired handprint crafts. Remember to go see the other five adorable ideas over at Skip to my Lou today! Also, if you haven’t already, make sure to follow us on Facebook where we share all of our new projects and kids ideas first and Pinterest where we find and share the best from around the web!
Layne says
What great ideas – cute little helper too 🙂