We had a recent very cold weekend, and I was doing my best to keep the toddler entertained indoors. While he napped on Sunday afternoon, I made a quick trip to our craft store to restock white card stock. (I ran out in another card project I did recently.) I’ve done some searching for plaster figures he could paint, and so far two craft stores have come up empty for me. He loves painting with me at ceramics class, so I thought we could embark on a different paint project. Hand print turkeys.
I made sure the table was covered in newspapers. And the toddler was dressed in old clothes that could get paint on them. I painted his hand with the brown paint, and placed it on the paper, making sure his fingers touched the paper. (Some of our prints came out better than others. And that’s quite all right.) I also couldn’t get a photo of this process as it had the potential to be super messy and stain my walls or furniture.
We did enough hand prints for all of the grandparents to have one.
He’d had enough of painting, so I finished the faces later. I cut the card stock to fit into 5×7 frames, and easy as that, we have a few gifts for the grandparents!
1. Get your child’s hand print (I painted my son’s hand, held it and pressed it gently onto the card stock.)
2. Paint a beak, snood (the dangly piece off the beak), legs and feet on your turkey.
3. Dot the eye and write your child’s name and year on the picture.4. Cut the card stock into the size you want to frame – and frame it!
This is project 10 in my quest to complete 12 projects this year. You can see project 1 | project 2 | project 3 | project 4 | project 5 | project 6 | project 7 | project 8 | project 9 in previous posts.
Masshole Mommy says
That is a classic thanksgiving craft! I liove how yours came out!
Rena McDaniel says
It’s so hard to keep little ones occupied during bad weather. This is such a great idea and a keepsake that you will enjoy forever. I put my Christmas tree up yesterday and it always such a great time because of all the handmade ornaments that my children made when they are growing up.
Erica Brooks says
What a cute craft. I love that you framed it.
aimee fauci says
I am loving how you framed the hand print. What a keepsake to bring out each year.
Kristen from The Road to domestication says
That’s so cute! A great way to see how they grow, too!
TiaMaria says
How adorable! And what a great idea to make them as gifts for family members π
Farrah says
I love this idea! I’ll have to try this with my kids.
connie says
Awwwww….how sweet. I still have my kid’s hand print turkey. I will treasure it always.
Pam says
I still have a few of the handprint turkeys my kids made when they were little. They’re such a cute and easy craft.
Stefany says
As a school nurse, I had all the preschoolers make me hand turkeys. They were so cute on my bulletin board!
Liz Mays says
Putting that in a frame was a brilliant idea. I just love that, Jaime!!!!
krystalskitsch says
That would be perfect for my two year old to try! We will have to make it this week.
Lois Alter Mark says
So cute! I still have the ones my kids made more than 20 years ago!!
Jeanine says
Adorable! I’ve always loved hand print turkeys! I need to make some with my kiddos, such great keep sakes!
Ourfamilyworld says
This is so precious and a great souvenir. Your little one will love seeing this in few years from now: makes great memories
Amanda Love says
I did this last weekend with my toddler when we were cooped up in the house. We didn’t use paint though but traced her hands and colored it in. I love your idea better. π
Pam says
I love this. This is a craft that never gets old. These would make great cards to send the grandparents too.
Kae James says
Aww so cute. My son and I did some crafts this weekend. This one is pretty simple to do during the week.
Annie says
Quick & simple craft to do with your little one. It’s so cute!
Ave says
We don’t celebrate Thanksgving here in Spain, but it’s still a great craft. My daughter loves to paint with her fingers, so we’ll give this a try.
Ann Bacciaglia says
This is such a simple craft to do with your little ones. It would make a great gift for grandparents.
Melissa Vera says
I still have the turkey handprints that my girls made me. I love this classic holiday craft.
Chrystal @ YUM eating says
So cute. There is something so nostalgic about the turkey handprint.
Megan @ C'mon Get Crafty says
I love handprint art. So many cute ways to do it for various holidays!
TripleZmom says
I need to do more projects with card stock so I can frame them and so they’ll last longer. I love hand turkeys!
Onica {MommyFactor} says
Yes the turkey handprint is a classic and treasured thanksgiving artwork. So sweet you framed yours.
Marielle Altenor says
I want to try this with my little man! We haven’t been doing a lot of projects since I started a full time job! This would be a nice one to do!
Rosey says
A snood! Ha! I wondered what that little dangly thing was called. π Love that you framed it, we’ve got framed kid art in the house too. π
Jaime says
I had to google that, obviously. π I’m not THAT smart!
Chrissy Mazzocchi says
So cute and timeless! I remmeber making these in school as well for my Parents π