Hand Print Art

Here is a multi-sensory art experience with a cooperative extension.

Lay out a large drop cloth on the table.  We use the kind that is a papery fabric on one side and plastic backed.  I found them at Walmart.

Put out several colors of tempera paint and small brushes.

The children were encouraged to paint their hands to make hand prints on the paper, but not just solid handprints...they could paint as many different colors and patterns and designs on their hands as they chose.

We leave our activities out for a week giving children time to try everything and revisit places to retry or extend  their experiences.  It was interesting to see which children came to this activity every day, creating new and more elaborate designs each time.  Some tried it once and did not venture back until it became a partner activity.

                                                                                 

Opening the option of it being a partner activity brought new excitement to the center.  Children would walk around the room inviting others to be painted by them or to paint them.  They even wanted to paint the teachers.

    It was a great way to get the children working together and comfortable with one another early on in the year.

Working on a large canvas rather than individual papers gives a new perspective as well.  There was a lot of space and many angles in which to print.  They had to look at the piece as a whole and then decide where to place their hand prints.

There were many great problem solving opportunities as well as they had to share paint cups and space.







The final piece was such a beautiful memory of our team work we decided to use it for our classroom curtains for the year.  A lovely statement of the year to be...many hands, large and small, ready to play together.