Earth Day Handprint Wreath

Earth Day is coming up next week, and I’ve been gathering ideas for some crafty projects to do with the kids; I saw an idea for a handprint wreath and put my own spin on it. Before starting the project, my 4yr old and I talked about why it is important to keep Earth clean and how we can do that. We also briefly discussed energy usage and conservation. I asked her why she thinks it is important to keep Earth clean, and I wrote her response in the center of the wreath.

Materials

• blue, green, and brown acrylic paint (or whatever type of paint you prefer for making handprints)


• 3 pieces wax paper


• several pieces white construction paper


• any colored construction paper for middle of wreath


• scissors


• white school glue or glue stick

Instructions

After gathering materials, make a colored circle cutout from construction paper to be the center of the wreath. I folded the construction paper in half and drew a half circle, then cut along the curve. This is where we had our clean Earth discussion.

Next, get paint ready. Using the first piece of wax paper, squeeze out blue paint and spread in an even, somewhat thin layer (I used the handle of a paintbrush).

Repeat with green paint and brown paint.

I recommend covering the workspace before starting handprints. Our 4yr old was focused enough to not get paint everywhere, and our 19mo old had a lot of fun.

We ended up using four handprints of each color (12 total) in our wreath, but we made more than that to help ensure we had at least four handprints that looked complete. Plus, it’s fun.

Once all of the handprints are made on the pieces of white construction paper, allow them to dry. It was a lovely, sunny day when we did this project, so I put our papers outside to dry with rocks on top to keep the wind from blowing them around. They dried surprisingly quickly.

When the handprints are completely dry, cut them out. I thought about giving this task to our 4yr old (she loves and is great at cutting), but I decided to do it myself. Hands are tough to cut out, and we had quite a few. I was entirely sick of cutting and handprints by the time I finished. So, it was probably a good thing that we had to pause the project at that point and finish it the following day.

Once you have recuperated from cutting out 12 (or 24, in my case) little handprints, arrange them around the colored circle cutout, and glue them around the perimeter!

Hang and display for all to enjoy. And, if nothing else, remember: Keeping Earth clean is important because… “polluting can hurt plants and animals.” – our 4yr old

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