Materials
Plastic paper plate holder (the kind with web-like designs on it)
Black paint
Sponges
White and black paper
Glue
Instructions
1. Fold each sheet of construction paper crosswise and give one to each child.2. Ask the children to place their hands on the paper, with their little fingeragainst the folded edge.3. Use a pencil to trace each child's hand onto his paper. (If desired, as you aretracing each child's hand, encourage the children to sing "Where IsThumbkin?")4. Help the children cut out their paper hand, making sure to cut through bothpieces of paper. You now have a hand card.5. Write a verse inside the cards relating to the holiday or special occasion. Forexample, write, "I hand my heart to you" for Valentine's Day or "Here are myhelping hands" for Mother's Day or Father's Day. Or simply write, "I loveyou" and help the children sign their names.6. Encourage the children to decorate their cards using crayons, glue sticks,stickers, sequins, or whatever other decorations you have available.7. You may want to trace the hands one day (making sure to write each child'sname on his paper hand) and then cut out the tracings later during naptime.Then ask the children to decorate their cards the next day.More to doWhile doing this activity, discuss with the children how people grow as they getolder and how next year, their hands will be bigger than today.Math: With the children, count the fingers on the card and identify the name ofeach finger (thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky).
