Fall Hand-print Art

Welcome to Day 1 of Funtober: 31 Days of Fall Fun!! I am so excited you are joining me as we seek to create an unforgettable fall season full of great food, crafts, and fun family activities!

The colder weather, return of a school routine, and anticipation of the holidays always puts me in the mood to craft with my kiddos. I am a huge fan of SIMPLE crafts, that just about anyone can pull off (without a trip to the craft store!) I also enjoy projects that mark a moment in time. Hand-print art is a fun and easy way to mark a child’s growth while creating some pretty adorable art!

Here are a few of my favorite hand-print/footprint art projects to kick off Funtober.

1. Footprint Ghosts

Paint your child’s foot (or both feet) with washable white paint. Have your child step carefully onto a piece of black construction paper. When the footprint is dry, add googly eyes to complete the footprint ghost.Your child can add details to their ghost if they would like. (My daughter added hair and a face to hers!)

2. Hand-print Pumpkin

I absolutely LOVE this quick and easy fall hand-print painting. Paint the palm of your child’s hand with orange paint. (We used water-colors, but washable craft paint would work as well.) Paint the fingers green. Have your child carefully press their hand onto white paper. Allow your child to add detail to their picture, creating a fall scene. (My little man added a hummingbird, since we’ve been having so much fun feeding them lately!)

Another idea would be to have each of your children (and parents too!) make a hand-print pumpkin on a larger sheet of paper, to create a family “pumpkin patch.” This would also be a great bulletin board idea for pre-school teachers or kindergarten teachers to use! (I know my class would have loved this project!)

3. Hand-print Spiders

Have your child draw a “web” with black crayon or marker on a sheet of paper. (If they are young, cut around the scribbles they create to form a web shape.) Paint your child’s hands black with washable paint. Ideally, try to get them to stamp their hands down without stamping their thumbs, so the spider will have 8 legs. However, when my 2 year old made this spider several years ago, it ended up with 10 legs, and was still pretty darn cute!

*I recommend using washable paint products for each of these crafts, and invite mothers to also lay out a vinyl tablecloth or washable place-mat prior to beginning these projects. Have baby wipes handy to grab the bulk of the paint from your child’s hand/foot prior to taking them to the sink. (Because we all know they’ll run their hand through their hair or wipe it on their pants before they make it to the sink!)

Keep coming back every day during the month of October for fun family activities, fall food, and lots of crafts and learning activities to do with your kids!