How to Make Animals With Finger Painting
Even infants can, with some assistance, use finger paint to create a thumbprint or handprint animal. Finger painting is one of the simplest art crafts you can do in your classroom or at home, and finger paint animals make a great activity for children learning animal names. Handprint turkeys, bunny rabbits or reindeer can be used as holiday decorations or placed on the front of holiday cards at Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas.
Things You'll Need
- Finger paints
- Paper
- Felt tip marker
- Wipe or damp paper towel
- Paintbrush (optional)
Instructions
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1
Decide what kind of animal you want to paint. Smaller animals, such as fish, or round animals, such as turtles, may best be painted using just the thumb. Almost any animal with four legs can be painted by painting the four fingers of one hand as legs, the palm as the body and the thumb as the head.
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2
Choose your paint colors. Animals like turkeys or birds are best painted with each finger painted a different feather color.
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3
Choose a paper color. Light colors work best, unless you are painting a white animal like a sheep.
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4
Set up your paint area. If you have an active toddler or preschooler, have a wet wipe, damp paper towel or wash cloth handy so you can immediately clean her hands after painting.
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5
Press the child's fingers and palm into the appropriate color paint, or use a paintbrush to paint directly onto their fingers and palm.
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6
Press the painted hand, finger or thumb onto the paper.
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7
Allow to dry. Use a felt tip marker to draw eyes, legs or facial features, if necessary.
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Tips & Warnings
Let very small babies and toddlers "paint" by painting their palm or finger and pressing it onto the paper for them. Older toddlers and preschoolers may prefer to finger paint free-form onto a shape cutout to resemble an animal.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images
