My Dr. Seuss Book

Toddler, Pre-K, K

Well, I couldn't let Gracie have all of the Seuss fun today!

So, Thomas and I made our own Dr. Seuss Book! I thought up my own hand and foot print ideas...with the exception of Thing 1 & Thing 2--which is genius!!!

To make this craft you will need:

• washable paints
• hands & feet & fingers too

Give these hand & foot print ideas a whirl!

Horton's clover; palm of the hand painted pink. Finger painted green, add white to make the speck with your child's pointer finger. Now, you can see mine is purple--it would have worked better on not white paper. You couldn't see the white at all, so I went over it with a darker color.

The Foot Book: self explanatory, choose colors your child likes and make an imprint of their left and right foot.

Red Fish, Blue Fish. Paint hands red and blue and stamp. Add bubbles, fin and mouth for fun!


This was a genius idea! Mine did not come out nearly as well as hers. But, I love ti none the less. I had Gracie make Thing 1 (since she is the oldest), and Thomas is Thing 2. Paint palm of your hand pink/peach/flesh, fingers blue, and wrist red. Stamp! Add facial features.

Thumbprint Snowman

Toddler, Pre-K, K

While you have the white paint out and your child is already messy, let them make a thumbprint snowman.

To make this craft you will need:

• Construciton paper
• White paint
• A cute thumb
• Markers, pens, etc for the details.

Mommy tip: Your child will likely enjoy dipping their fingers in the paint, so let them make some snowflakes falling down on their snowman.

Thumbprint Turkey

Toddler, Pre-K, K

I won't insult any ones intelligence with the three hand, foot & thumbprint turkey crafts the kids and I made this week. Use your favorite colors and your imagination. And make sure the paint has dried before you add the extra details with a pen or marker. :)

Hand & Fingerprint Tree

Toddler, Pre-K, K, 6 & Up

There are many variations on this craft, so use your imagination and have fun with your kids. In years past I have made a mommy tree and a Gracie tree on very large newsprint. And, until this year I didn't even think to use my child's hand and arm for the trunk and the branches. You could do one tree, or a whole forest--but when you and your little one make the leaves, don't forget a few that have fallen to the ground.

For this craft you will need:

• Brown paint
• Red, Orange, Yellow (or your leaf color choices) paint
• 1 cute hand (and possibly arm)
• 1-5 adorable finger tips

If you want to save your child's hand print along with the finger print leaves, cover their hands in brown paint. You could paint a bit of their arms with brown as I did, but my toddler didn't get the idea and it smeared. He was used to hand prints, but not the arm. It is just as cute to then paint your own stem.

Clean off the brown from your child's hand. There really is no reason to make them wait until it is dry. They are already having fun in the paint and odds are you aren't going to want to pull this all out again. So, start painting their fingers.

With my young one I tried to just paint his pointer finger. I got better results with one finger. When the process got tedious and he got bored, I painted each finger a different color and kind of "stamped" his fingertips--but you can probably see how those smeared. Pre-K and Kindergarteners should be able to not only make their fingerprints clear, but will also be able to change from color to color.

Experiment with the colors and don't forget to put some at the bottom of the tree. I have my kids do one color at a time because they will eventually get yellow in the orange ad red, etc--but I didn't have this luxuary with Thomas, and I kind of like the blended colors! They are a lot more realistic.

Have fun!!

Pumpkin Thumb Print

Toddler, Pre-K, K

Another fun way to make pumpkins is to use your child's thumb. Thomas' thumbprint went on a pre-made paper that I have for his fall fun book...but you can do the same gourds with your child.

To make this craft you need:

• Orange paint (washable is best)
• Paper
• An adorable thumb

Once your child makes the thump print add on stems and leaves, and even a vine if you want.

Apple Thumbprints

Toddler, Pre-K, K

Another fun apple painting craft is a thumbprint apple tree. Thomas' thumprint went on a pre-made paper that I have for his fall fun book...but you can do the same apples with your child.

To make this craft you need:

• Red, green, and/or yellow paint (washable is best)
• Paper
• An adorable thumb

Draw and color a green bushy tree top, or you can cut one out of construction paper. Add your drawn or cutout tree trunk.

Paint your child's thumb the apple color you want and have them add apples to the tree. They can make as many as they want, and don't forget a few that would fall to the ground for the animals to eat.

If you don't feel you are artistic enough to draw or cut out your tree top and trunk, print the below picture and you or your child can color it in and add painted thumbprint apples, or use as a pattern.

You can get the free PDF version where I got it, by clicking here.

Thumbprint Spider

Toddler, Pre-K, K, 6 & Up

Since Thomas' hand was already covered in paint I used his thumb to make a thumbprint spider as well.

Actually, I am working on a keepsake fall book for him so we will do many more thumbprints through out this month and next.

For this craft you will need:

• Black paint (washable is best)
• Paper (of any kind)
• Permanent marker--black
• A cute little thumb :)

Simply do a thumbprint of your child, wait until it dries and add details with your marker.

Mommy Tip:

Before you go to work on the details, practice what you want your spider to look like. Draw a black oval the size of you child's thumbprint and make designs until you get the one you want. Also, the smaller the thumb, the smaller your details will be. You will want to choose a fine line marker for smaller thumbs. I had a very fine lined scrap booking pen that I used for Thomas' spider. And don't forget to add your child's name and the date somewhere on the paper or on the back--you will really want that later on!