Ceres Childcare & Preschool Home Page! Themes, Crafts & Activities Handprint Calendar 2 WinterTheme Crafts Valentines Day St Patrick's Day Easter Gardening and Flowers Insects Mother's Day Father's Day Independence Day Name Recognition Halloween Thanksgiving Christmas Alphabet Activities Letter "Dd" Letter "Gg" Letter "Ii" Letter "Zz" Email Sheril!

Handprint Calendar This is a HUGE project, which is a great gift for children and providers to make for parents as a Christmas present. All of these are also great as individual projects you can do throughout the year. Since I do this every year I am always looking for new ideas to make it a little different, so if anyone has any ideas I don't have listed here I would appreciate an email with directions. I used Print Shop to make up each month’s calendar, which is great because I can type in my holidays, closed days, and special days that I have planned. If you don’t have a computer program to make your own, just make some copies off of a regular calendar. Optional- If you have a digital camera, take a picture of each child and put it as a graphic on their birthday. Very cute! For my own calendar I put each daycare child’s picture, but the calendars for the daycare parents have only their child's picture on the birth date. One year I paid about a dollar each to have them bound at Mailboxes Etc. but you can do it yourself for free at some office supply stores. Here my local Office Depot lets people use their binding machine you just purchase your own binding spines. Painting tips: Plan ahead! Do same colors such as Jan, October’s ghost, and the Feb bunny all at once as they all require white. Start with Feb since you don’t paint the thumb. This saves lots of time on painting and washing up. With a just a little planning you can do the same for several months and really save a lot of time. Infants are difficult if not impossible to do the months that require more than one color per handprint (such as the turkey). I was able to do my 1yo’s by doing one color one portion at a time and letting it dry between stamping other colors. If there is more than one child in a family then just make two (or however many) hearts, bunnies, etc. on each page. Or incorporate all the children in one, such as one child to make the butterfly’s body and the other for the wings. They look very sweet with one small handprint next to the siblings larger one. For my own calendar I use a different child for each month and use it above my sign in sheet. Looks very cute in my playroom and comes in handy. Cover page Center the child’s handprint in any color. Write the words “This is my hand that you used to hold, when I was only ____ years old.” If you have a digital camera you can have someone take yours and the child’s picture while you are painting his hand or take a picture of the child holding up his painted hand. Use the picture to print out for the cover next to the handprint. January Use blue paper. Lately I have been using the new sparkle construction paper that has glitter flecks. Make one white handprint and then turn each finger into five little snowmen drawing on eyes, carrot nose, buttons, and a black hat. Another idea for January... instead of snowmen make a Snowflake. Make white handprints around in a circle overlapping the palms. Sprinkle silver or white glitter while it is wet. Optional, write "Let it snow" on top of the page. FebruaryUse pink paper. Make two red handprints holding fingers close together - fingertips point downward and palms make curves of heart. Optional- write “Be Mine” or Be my Valentine. MarchUse light green paper. Make three green handprints in a shamrock shape. Fingertips overlap and palms make the rounded sides of the leaves. Make three thumbprints for the stem. Another idea that I have been using for March is using white (with the glitter flecks if you have it) paper, color each finger a different color - R, O, Y, G, B, and then create a rainbow with the hand stamped in an arch across the page. AprilUse purple paper. Paint child’s hands and fingers white but do not paint the thumb. Separate the fingers so that two fingers are on each side to make the bunny ears. Paint on eyes, nose, whiskers, and mouth when dry. Remember to check when Easter Falls in the year you create your calendar for. Sometimes Easter falls in March instead of April so adjust your months accordingly. May Use white paper. Make two handprints side by side in any color you would like your flowers to be. When dry draw stems and leaves with a green marker. June through December calendar page Back to Themes, Crafts, and Activities Back to Themes, Crafts, and Activities Email Sheril! Return to Ceres Childcare & Preschool