Hand and Foot Print Flowers for Spring!

Hand and Foot Print Flowers for Spring!

Finished Project

Spring will be pretty.

Just give it a week, When flowers are blooming down by the creek.

Bees will be buzzing as trees start to bud,

But for the moment I'm covered with mud.

Snow has been melting, since winter is through,

Replacing the whiteness with puddles of goo.

I stepped off the sidewalk and into the ooze.

Next thing I knew, I stepped out of my shoes!

Mud on my ankles and mud on my clothes.

I stumbled face-first and got mud up my nose.

Spring will be pretty, but I must confess,

The first days of spring are a muckety mess!

Let's get messy! 

Bring your kids over to our house and dip their

feet and hands in paint to make a keepsake for Spring!

RSVP as usual - only plus 1 if your bringing 2 kids and so on.  Please list any allergies in your rsvp.  Directions will be emailed the night before to all Yes rsvp's.

Craft Directions:

These are super easy to do, I was even able to get both of my 3 year olds hands and feet onto the SAME piece of paper! Granted it was a large piece of construction paper, but they fit none the less. I had to settle for a new piece of paper to get my 11month olds flowers done but that eased my fears of her turning her flowers into a finger painting project which would "ruin" the twins prints.

8-Oz. Color Splash! Washable Tempera Paint (Pack of 12) Using Washable Tempura Paints make this project an easy one to clean up after.

Supplies:

Washable Tempura Paints

Paint brushes

Wipes or a wet hand towel

Paper to apply prints onto

Step 1: Choose your colors for the flowers, my girls actually chose different colors! I thought we'd have our usual purple and pink but they surprised me and I think they turned out great! Place your hand and foot prints as shown. I use regular baby wipes to clean off the paint but a wash rag would be far more economical.

 

Step 2: Draw in your stems. I used a regular foam paint brush. I buy mine at Michaels but have seen them at Target and Walmart. Make sure to wash these out ASAP, even just soaking them will make them last longer. They may be cheap to buy but having to run to the store Just to buy paint brushes aren't in my plans for the day.

11month old's project

Step 3: Paint on leaves and add the name and date to either a stem or on an empty part of the paper.

Autumn Leaves - Handprints

I LOVE Autumn!  There is a definite lack of the typical signs of fall in Vegas.  We happily drive to Mt. Charleston to see the leaves change color but I wanted to do as many crafts at home to help the kids realize the season actually did change.  As of yesterday it actually began to feel like fall, the Vegas skies weren't the usual gorgeous blue and I didn't constantly check the doors to make sure we weren't wasting our a/c.

I had my 18 month old do this handprint, it took a couple tries but she finally lost interest in squishing her fingers on the tiles slick surface.  Thankfully I have a box of baby wipes next to me to quickly wipe off the "mistakes" and re-apply the paint to her hands.  Yes, we did take a shower afterwards since she puts her hands in her hair immediately.

We used the washable Crayola tempura paint; Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.  I painted her hand with the lighter colors first then dabbed on the darker colors.  I wanted the leaf to look as if it was laying down or falling so I had the tile diagonal when I placed her hand down.  As usual I painted my fingers a bit so when I took her hand I didn't take any of her paint off - oddly enough, if my hand isn't painted a little as well I seem to be concerned with getting some on me.  This is weird since I'm covered in paint or glue most of my day anyway but if you ever find yourself hesitating due to not wanting to get paint on yourself - PUT it on yourself and you'll be able to grasp your child's hand and move her fingers however you wish!

After her handprint dried I used the back end of the paint brush to paint on some leave veins.  I let that dry then outlined the hand print in a leaf shape with gold glitter glue.  This is at our Dollar Store almost year round so I use it often!

After its all finished I sprayed it with an enamel to seal it.

Handprint Spidar with footprint ghost

I wish I could have gotten the ghost and the spidar on the same page but my baby just wasn't going to let that happen.  So, you go with it.  My little one was 17 months when we did this and she did great!  I was amazed that she didn't paint her face with her painted black hands. 

To make the spidar you need to keep in mind the placement - the palms will go together to make the fingers into legs.  I've seen this outlined in silver glitter glue but since I paired it with the ghost I left it as is.  Have fun with it!