How to Teach Children Thumbprint Art

Thumbprint art is a fun way to introduce your children to art and to teach them about nature. It gives children the thrill of getting messy, and parents the relief of an easy clean-up. The activity can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as you and your child want.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Washable stamp pads
• Paper
• Black marker
• Wipes or damp tissues

1. Find examples in a crafts book, such as Ed Emberley's "Great Thumbprint Drawing Book." Show your child some options and let her pick which one she wants to do. Keep the example at hand so she can look back for reference.

2. Guide the child’s thumb onto the pad and roll it a little to get a good inking.

3. Hold your child’s hand and help him place his thumb on the paper for greater accuracy. Older children can do it by themselves. Make sure to wipe the ink off the child’s thumb and let the ink dry on the paper before you proceed.

4. Give your child the marker to draw the legs and talk the child through the process to make it a learning experience. For example, if you're making a spider, ask how many legs a spider has and then draw four long legs coming out of each side of the thumbprint.

5. Draw the eyes and mouth. Again, you can make this a learning experience by asking how many eyes a spider has (most have eight), but let the child have fun with the drawing and put as many eyes as she wants. Draw a big smile under the eyes.

6. Place the drawing in context. For a spider, you can draw a wavy line and talk about the spider’s dragline coming down from the web. For insects, you can draw dotted lines behind them to show where they’ve been flying. Use the finished artwork as a house decoration, as a gift card or as a gift in itself.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a stamp pad with non-toxic ink.

Resources

• Ed Emberley's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book