Handprint Grinch and Max

This was a fun craft for the kids. Who doesn't love the Grinch and his adorable dog, Max? I've seen a lot of handprint Grinches around, but I couldn't find any of Max so I just kind of made it up. For the Grinch I painted the palm green and the four fingers red (I didn't paint the thumb at all) and made a print. For the dog, the thumb and pinky (pinkie?) finger were painted dark brown (for the ears) and the palm and three other fingers were a lighter brown. And I made the print upside down. When the prints were dry, the kids added cotton balls to the Grinch's hat, yellow eyes made from construction paper, and drew in a nose and smile.

For Max I cut out an "antler" and the kids glued it to the top of the dog. I drew in a little bow. Then they glued on white ovals for eyes and drew in the nose and mouth. And just to make it a little more festive, they drew a curly line all around their paper and added colorful fingerprints for Christmas lights.

They turned out so cute!

Peppermint Candy Craft

Here's a cute and fun way to make a peppermint candy! We made a marbled candy using shaving cream and paint, but you could decorate the candy part any way you'd like.
To get the marbled look, spread out shaving cream on one paper plate.

Add drops of paint (or food coloring) and gently swirl them around using a toothpick or craft stick.

Then put another paper plate on top of the first and gently push down.

Separate the plates,

and use a craft stick to scrape off the shaving cream from the plate that was on top. You are left with a beautiful design.

To avoid too much smearing and mixing of colors, wipe the craft stick off after each scrape. Or just use one color of paint. When it's dry, cut out the middle circle of the plate and glue it to construction paper. Add white hand prints to the sides to look like the wrapper.

Cut it out.

You could wrap it in plastic wrap or add some ribbons to the sides, but I think it's cute as is!

Pasta Footprint Turkey

Here's a fun, cute and quick turkey craft for you! Paint your child's foot brown and make a print. When it dries, have them glue tri-colored pasta on to make the turkey feathers. Add a beak, eye and snood. I helped out by putting the glue on the paper for the kids so they'd know where to put the noodles. (I was planning on having it be a front-facing turkey, but every child's foot had a high arch, so I thought it looked better to have the turkey facing sideways and just put the feathers on one side.)

We used construction paper for the beak, a wiggle eye, and red yarn for the snood.

They are adorable!

For the youngest one in my group (19 months), I traced her hand and she glued on the noodles (with a little help!).

Handprint Apple Craft

Here's a simple apple craft I made with the kids recently.

They painted a small paper plate by dipping a pom pom into red paint and dabbing their plate.

I painted their palm and fingers green (for a leaf) and their thumb brown (for a stem) and made a print.

I cut out the handprint when it was dry and glued it to the top of the plate.That's it!

Easy and cute!

Two Cherry Blossom Crafts

I've been waiting to do this craft since the fall. I had bought a pack of foam tree cut-outs from Target and it came with some brown ones and some green ones. My daughter made a fall tree with buttons (read about that here).

But I thought the green tree would be perfect for cherry blossoms! First we glued the tree to a piece of blue paper. Then my daughter scrunched up pink tissue paper squares, dipped them in glue, and added them to the tree.

She put some on the foam tree and some on the paper around the tree.

I also had these self-adhesive butterfly jewels that I received from CraftProjectIdeas.com so I let her add some to her paper.

I love how the green and pink look together!
I also made cherry blossoms with the kids I care for. I painted their hands and arms brown to make a tree and they put scrunched up tissue paper on that.

They turned out very cute!

Valentine Whale

Here's what my little group of kids made for Valentine's Day!

First I cut out a simple cartoonish whale shape, without the tail, and glued it to a big piece of white paper.

(I would recommend construction paper, but I didn't have any. I used pieces cut from a roll of paper, which is why it's taped down on the corners.) I then used the kids' handprints to form the tail.

When the paint was dry, I put a heart sticker at the top of the whale to indicate where the blowhole was.

(Sorry about these horrible photos. I never remember to bring my camera so I have to use my phone for pictures.) The kids added more self-adhesive foam hearts (given to me by CraftProjectIdeas.com!) above the whale.

Then they added a big wiggle eye and drew a mouth.

I wrote the words, "Whale you be my Valentine?" by tracing over printed words because I don't have great handwriting.

The crinkled paper is yet another reason to use construction paper. I really wish I had it for this craft. The little one's handprints were a little tricky to get right, but it's still cute!

Footprints in the Snow

This project was inspired by an ornament craft I saw in an Oriental Trading magazine. It was very simple to do. First the kids used a Q-tip dipped in white paint to make snow falling from the sky on blue paper.

Then I cut white paper and glued it to the bottom half of the blue paper. I helped the kids make thumbprints on the paper with blue ink. We started at the bottom and worked our way up.

Then they glued on a little person at the top of the hill. I had a "boy" cookie cutter that looked like a kid in a snowsuit, so I just traced that. And I added a little point to the hood. We also added a tiny white pom pom to the tip of the hood.

And that's it! They turned out cute, even if all of our little people apparently walk like a duck!

Button Turkey

What do you get when you take a handprint turkey and add some buttons? This cutie:

I knew the buttons I bought for my fall tree would come in handy. I had to pick through them to find the small ones so they'd fit in the fingers of my daughter's handprint. First I traced it with a pencil then went over it with markers. I also added a beak and feet.

Then my daughter helped me squeeze glue on the fingers. We worked on one finger at a time, matching the colors.

For the body, we again covered it in glue first.

I found a dark brown square button, so she put that in the middle to look like a wing. Then she filled in the rest.

I added a wiggle eye and that was it!

Great fine motor practice and color-matching activity!

For more Thanksgiving fun, check out these free printables you can use to dress up your dining table at FoodPackagingLabels.net!