Christmas trees with handprints

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These Christmas trees were a lot of fun to make for the kids!

  1. Grab some canvases at your local craft store. I picked up a three pack of thin 8 by 10 canvases.
  2. Get acrylic paints to use. I thought the shiny ones I found were perfect for this. The color turned out so well.
  3. First, paint a brown tree trunk.
  4. Then dip one hand into the green paint and press onto the canvas.  I started from the bottom and worked my way up. Depending on the size of your child’s hand, I did three to four on the bottom row and then one less each row up. Keep making prints until you reach the top.
  5. Let the tree dry completely. Then paint a thin black line as shown in the picture.
  6. Have the kids use different fingers to make tiny ornaments on the black line.  This was their favorite part!
  7. Add a star at the top if desired.

*This is a great keepsake type craft that could even be used as a gift for family members!

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Santa Handprints

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Last year I came a cross an idea to turn the kids’ handprints into a Santa design. These turned out super cute!

I never found directions on exactly how to do this, but I will do my best to explain it to you!

1.  Grab a bucket of Crayola Air Dry Clay from Wal-mart. (Or make your own salt dough)

2.  Roll it out and cut out a circle or shape of your choice.  Just make sure it’s big enough to fit the hand print.

3.  Press your child’s hand print into clay and let it air dry. I think it took a couple of days.  Just follow directions on clay package. If you want to hang it with a ribbon, be sure to cut out holes before the clay dries.

4. Use acrylic paints to color the hand print like Santa!

Making Gak

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Ok, so this is a super fun and easy thing to do that will keep the kiddos entertained for some time! We do this quite often, but I have yet to post it. So here it is!

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You will need:

  • 2- 4 oz bottles of Elmer’s glue
  • 1 tsp borax
  • water
  • food coloring

Directions:

  1. Empty glue bottles into a large bowl.
  2. Fill the glue bottles with warm water. Don’t fill the bottles completely full….just stop filling when bubbles reach the top of the bottle.
  3. Shake the glue bottles and empty into the bowl.
  4. Add in food coloring and mix well.
  5. Dissolve 1 teaspoon of borax into a half cup of warm water.
  6. Pour the borax mixture into the bowl and stir.
  7. The gak will come together after stirring just a bit. Once kids play with the gak the stickiness also decreases.

 

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Pom Pom Animals

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We made reindeer, snowmen, and penguins using pom poms, pipe cleaners, and hot glue.  My kids have had tons of fun playing and pretending with these little things that took only a few minutes to put together!  Here are our creations!

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I put them together using a picture…so I really don’t have specific directions. I’d be happy to answer questions you may have though!