Well, March certainly did come in like a lion here in the Pacific NW, but I’m not so sure I’d say it’s going out like a lamb…However, to bookend March, my children and I made Lion masks on March 1st, and have some adorable hand print lambs for you, here on March 31st. I LOVE doing seasonal crafting! I store away crafts that go with the seasons in a file folder in the garage. Each month, I pull out the projects that correlate, and hang them up in the house. It is fun to see the artwork progress from year to year, and to look back and see artwork from years past. (This is also a great idea for parents that don’t have many holiday decorations. Decorations your children make will be much more special and memorable, so hang them up! Show them off! Adorn your walls and make your children feel as though they created something wonderful!)  I love crafting with my kids, and am a big believer in crafting without frills. I think parents are sometimes intimidated of doing projects with their kids because they think art has to include all kinds of fancy materials and doo-dads. Not so my friends. With some simple paper and glue, you can create all kinds of fun things that your children will love and be proud of.

To make these adorable little lambs you will need: crayons, scissors, glue, cotton balls, colored paper, white paper, (I used googly eyes, but you can certainly draw the eyes on if you don’t have these!)

First, start by tracing your child’s hand onto a piece of white paper.

Next, cut out your child’s hand print. (If you are willing to do this more than once, let your child attempt to do it! I cannot stress how important early scissoring skills are!) Have your child color in the four fingers black. Leave the thumb white.The fingers will become the legs.

Cut a half or quarter sheet of green paper, and glue it onto a piece of blue paper. We used scrapbooking paper at our house, so our paper had some subtle designs on it. You can be as fancy with the grass as you like. You can cut fringe, or shapes, or simply glue on  green rectangle. Next, glue the hand prints finger side down onto the paper. Attach cotton balls to the hand print with some glue. (A glue stick works just fine. I find that Elmer’s glue can be a bit messy and is hard for younger kids to manage.) Embellish the picture with googly eyes (or draw some on), and add a yellow sun if you’d like. My daughter added some clouds and a rainbow as well. You could also do a larger picture, and make two lambs (one of each hand).Here is our finished product!

The kids had a lot of fun, and were so proud of their finished project. They hang proudly on our door along with our March lions and hand-made pennies. I hope you will try out this adorable and easy craft with your kids. I hope wherever you are, that March really is going out like a lamb for you!