Thumbprint Art - Easy Crafts for Children

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

01 Feb 2007 01:21 PM

Making pictures with thumb and finger prints is easy, even for the reluctant artist. And other than needing to wash hands afterwards, it's not all that messy! All you need is a washable stamp pad or two and some markers to add detail. A single thumb print can be turned into a bunny, a bear, a dog, a shy mouse, or even a spider. If you start building a design with multiple finger prints you can make flowers, ants, even trains. A row of prints could be a caterpillar, a stack of fingerprints could be a snowman. Your childs imagination is the only limit.

Have your child press his or her thumb on the stamp pad, then press it on the paper. Use the markers to add eyes, ears, a nose, whiskers or legs. You can add some grass and flowers for the animals to romp through if they want.

Thumb print pictures make great gifts for grandparents and other important people. You can also make thumb print pictures on gift tags, or party invitations. A line of print pictures across the top of a paper makes great stationery for moms or teachers. You can even staple a few pages together for a child to illustrate a simple story. Thumb print pictures would also be a cute thing to include in a scrapbook page.

If you want more direction and cool ideas check out Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book or Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. I guarantee you and your children will be inspired.

Like I said, even children who don't like to draw love to do thumb and finger print drawing. I think because it is easy and fast and they get cute results with little effort. As a parent, I treasure these tiny works of art. It's a reminder of their tiny little fingers, and how quickly they are growing.

Scrapbooking with Kids has some more great ideas for perserving those precious hand and feetprints.

So break out the stamp pads and have fun.

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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Jeff Bogle (1022) 01 Feb 2007 02:25 PM

This is so awesome. I cannot believe we never tried this! Thanks.

Julie Gentry (5915) 01 Feb 2007 11:50 PM

I love the spider! Can't wait to try this.

Lauri Griffin (2703) 04 Feb 2007 07:26 AM

It is fun, and I love things that don't take a lot of prep and clean up time!

QueenAngie Central Illinois, USA (60106) 26 May 2007 02:57 PM

We had fun with ladybugs and catepillers with the boys.

Makes for fun art.

Lauri Griffin (2703) 29 May 2007 02:44 PM

I'm so glad, Angie. It is a fun project.