DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
THUMB ART

Kim sent in a craft suggestion and somewhere along the line, it turned into this *grin*...

This is a wonderful, yet simple craft for young children.

See the Fingerprint characters Activities for instructions on how to make the various images.

Thumbprint craft

Materials:

  • paper,
  • couple colours of tempra or finger paint (we used 2, but you could use more... just remember, you only have 2 thumbs so if you use more, you'll have to wash off in between colors)
  • black marker

Instructions:

  • Make thumbprints on the paper.  You can see in the photo that we made
    • a thumbprint caterpillar with alternating colors.
    • a thumbprint flower (4 prints for the petals and 2 prints for the leaves).
    • a thumbprint butterfly (4 prints of the same color).
    • a thumbprint sun (a whole bunch of prints in a circle).
    • a thumbprint bush (prints in a bunch) and
    • thumbprint grass (prints in a row)
    • you can also use single thumbprints (younger kids) and draw bug legs/faces on them.
  • Kitty adds:  for less experienced crafters, make small pencil marks on the paper to help guide them as to where they should be putting their thumbprints -- this helps with their hand/eye coordination, direction following skills and gets the caterpillars to look like caterpillars!
  • Let dry.
  • Take your black marker and draw legs a face on the caterpillar, a stem and center on the flower, and a body and antenna on the butterfly.

 

Printable version of these instructions.