A Reindeer Handprint Card Craft
Kids can make personalized reindeer cards to celebrate the holiday season and give to their family and friends. These cards make simple class projects that are easy for small hands to create. They also encourage creativity and confidence in small children as they make their own little works of art. The materials needed are affordable and readily available in any classroom. Since scissors are involved, monitor the children closely to ensure safety.
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Stand-up Reindeer Card
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Stand-up Reindeer cards can be created using sheets of brown and black construction paper, tagboard paper and craft glue. Have the children glue at least two sheets of brown paper to the tagboard paper and cut off any excess tagboard if necessary. When the glue is dry, fold one of the sheets of brown paper in half horizontally. Have the children trace their hand on the other piece of brown paper that was glued to tagboard and cut it out. Set the hand cut-out aside.
Ask the class to cut a half circle approximately 7 inches long and 5 inches high out of the folded paper to form the reindeer's body, then cut approximately two 1 1/2 inch by 2-inch rectangles from the black paper for the hooves. The children then cut a triangle from the remaining brown paper for the head and use markers to draw the eyes and nose. Have them glue their handprints to the back of its head for antlers and then glue the head on the reindeer's body. The kids should then glue the black "hooves" to the bottom of the reindeer's legs to finish the card.
Rudolph Handprint Card
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For this project use brown card stock, black markers, glue (regular and red glitter-type), googly eyes, red pom-poms, gold sequins and brown pipe cleaner. These items can be found in craft shops.
Have the children trace their hands on brown card stock that's been folded in half, then ask them to cut out the hand and draw hooves onto the fingertips with a black marker. The thumb will be the reindeer's head. They should then add a red glitter glue collar around the thumb and add gold sequins to the collar to represent bells. Next, the red pom-pom nose and googly eye should be glued on the head. Glue on a small tail cut from the remaining brown paper. To finish, create the reindeer's antlers by cutting a pipe cleaner in half, bending each half in two and curling the ends. The class should glue together the pipe cleaner pieces where they are bent, then use a paper clip to hold them in place until the glue dries. When dried, the antlers should be glued to the back of the reindeer's head and left to set. -
Paper Plate Handprint Reindeer Card
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Supply kids with brown paint and brushes, orange construction paper, paper plates, markers and glue. Ask the children to paint the backs of two paper plates brown, then cut one plate in half once they have dried. Have the children glue the circular edge of both halves of the cut plate to create an envelope (a note will be placed inside of it later). This envelope will form the body of the reindeer. Have the class fold the other plate in half and cut approximately 2 inches off of both corners diagonally - this will become the reindeer head and should be shaped like a trapezoid. Don't let them throw away the cut-off ends, because they'll be needed later.
Ask the students to trace and cut out their handprint on the construction paper. These are then glued to the back of the reindeer's head to form the antlers. The kids can then cut out ears, tails and legs from the ends removed earlier. Attach the legs and tail to the reindeer's body with the opening of the envelope facing up. The eyes and nose can either be drawn or cut from construction paper. Attach the head to the reindeer's body. Have the kids tuck a holiday note inside the slot on the reindeer's back for a pleasant surprise for a loved one.
Additional Ideas for Reindeer Handprint Cards
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The students' creations can also be used for decorating. Insert a paper clip through the cards to hang them on the class Christmas tree as ornaments or hang them on a sturdy string to use as garland that stretches across the room. The cards could also be attached to a bulletin board in a tree pattern with a star on top.
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References
Resources
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