Christmas Craft: Hand & Feet Painting

This one of my favourite pieces of Christmas craft, inspired by some research online. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, it also gives a snap shot in time of the size of your children’s hands and feet at the time of making this print. You can get as creative as you like or just keep it simple as the hand and foot prints are the best part. I have outlined the steps for the two types of prints below –

1. Santa with reindeer print, and
2. Christmas tree.

Instead of doing the whole picture, you can also just do the reindeer part on the front of a Christmas card. I used my children aged 6 and 8 to help with this but the tiny little hands and feet of a toddler would be oh so cute!!

Santa & Reindeer Print

All you need:

• Large piece of white paper or cardboard
• Brown paint for reindeer
• A different colour paint for the sleigh
• Paintbrushes
• Black texter
• Old newspaper

1. Lay the old newspaper out on the floor so you don’t make a bigger mess than necessary.

2. Lay your white paper or cardboard on the newspaper. I joined 2 pieces of paper together with sticky tape as my children’s feet and hands wouldn’t fit on the paper we used.

3. Paint their right foot and have them press down on the paper in the top right hand corner as shown. This is the fun part as my children are VERY ticklish and in this step there was more laughing than painting.

4. Next, I painted their right hand with copper paint I picked up at the discount store. Have them press their hand upside down onto the paper so their thumb is the head of the reindeer. You can do as many reindeer as you like.   Once the prints are done, set aside to dry.

5. Once dry, arm your kids with black texter and have them draw santa in the sleigh, antlers on the reindeer and their eyes, nose and mouth. At this step you can add any extra details you like. I added a city below with black and yellow texter.

Christmas Tree

All you need:

• Large piece of white paper or cardboard
• Green paint for tree
• Brown paint for the base
• Paintbrushes
• Coloured texters for the decorations
• Old newspaper

1. Lay the old newspaper out on the floor so you don’t make a bigger mess than necessary.

2. Lay your white paper or cardboard on the newspaper.

3. Paint your child’s hand (I used the right hand) with green paint. Have them print 4 hand prints for the bottom layer of the tree. I repainted then hand after each print but you could also have a tray of paint and have your child dip their hand into it.

4. The next layer of the tree should have approx. 3 hand prints, then 2 handprints, then 1 handprint for the top of the tree. I love it and think it is very effective.

5. Next you can paint the base of your tree. Set aside to dry.

6. Once it is dry, add some details using the coloured texters. We drew some decorations on the tree and presents underneath.

This could be a good idea for a teacher gift too!

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Christmas Craft Ideas