How2Day: Projects to Do With Painted Handprints

Kids will love fun handprint crafts. Chris Stein/Photodisc/Getty Images
Handprint crafts offer kids a way to create fun projects that they put a little of themselves into. Many are moderately easy and are great activities to do for the holidays. Kids can use them to help decorate the house or as gifts that grandparents and family will love and cherish for years to come.

Cut out footprints from brown construction paper. Trace and cut out six handprints in various fall colors. Next, glue the footprints together, aligning the heels to make the head. Attach googly eyes, a red circular waddle and triangle beak. Glue the hands to the back, spreading out the fingers to make feathers. Add two feet and hang or glue to a cup which can be filled with candy treats.

Paint a child's arm and hand with water soluble brown paint. Press onto light blue construction paper. Provide various fall colors of paint for children to dip their fingers into. Fill the finger branches with print leaves. Add either paint or paper grass along the bottom and white paper or cotton clouds to the sky. Allow to dry and hang for a festive fall look.

Trace a child's hands onto green construction paper. Cut out. The amount of prints depends on the size of the tree. Draw a triangle shape for the tree on another piece of paper. Starting at bottom, line hands up with fingers pointing downward. Glue in place. Continue upward, decreasing the amount of hands used in each line until you get to the last hand, which is the top of the tree.

Add a glittery yellow star to the top and other items for the tree's decorations. Add a personal touch by cutting photos of family member into small circles to use as the ornaments. Smaller trees can be used to adorn greeting cards.

Trace green handprints to make a wreath. Cut out the center of a paper plate and glue hands along the outer circle. Decorate with pom-poms, ribbons and glitter. Alternately, cut out decorative numbers 1 to 25 and use the wreath to count down to Christmas.

Trace a shoe pattern onto brown construction paper. Cut out. Trace both hands onto light brown or tan paper and cut out. Glue hand "antlers" onto the back of the toe part of the shoe cutout. Add wiggle eyes and a big red pom-pom for the nose. Draw a smile and attach string onto top so the reindeer can be hung on the tree.

You will need either foam clay or a stepping stone kit. Mix medium as instructed. Make into a saucer-sized circle or 5-inch-by-5-inch square, no more than 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick. Press child's hand into center until it makes a deep indent. Do not press all the way through. Add stones or other trinkets for decoration. If you want to hang the plaque, punch small hole into the top with either a toothpick or straw. Allow to harden. When dry, you can apply paint, write names, the date created and child's age. Add finishing touches.

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