This weeks Homemade Monday article is in honor of Thanksgiving. With the holiday right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share the different ways we’ve been decorating our house for the holiday. I love that you can use your little ones hand to make a few different crafts that not only provide vibrant decoration but can also be kept as keepsakes of a time when they were small.
SUPPLIES NEEDED
- Craft paper
- Bingo dotters
- Craft paint
- Paint Brush
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Stapler
HAND PRINT TREE
1. Cover little ones hand in brown paint. Be sure to cover; fingers, palm and wrist. This way your tree will have branches and trunk.
2. Press firmly down on a clean piece of paper. After you get a good handprint on your paper, help them clean their hand.
3. Squeeze small dabs of paint onto a disposable plate. Help them press their thumb in the paint and then on the paper. These adorable little finger prints will be the leaves so feel free to use lots of vibrant colors such as: red, orange, yellow, green and brown. 
4. Let dry and then hang for fabulous decor.
HAND CUT OUT TREE
This is a less messy option to the above hand print tree from above.
1. Trace hand on brown paper making sure you trace fingers, palm and trunk. 
2. Cut your hand tracings out.
3. Glue hand tracing down onto a piece of paper.
4. Next use different colored dotters to make the leaves.
We also made a hybrid of the two crafts when making one for the baby.
TOILET PAPER HAND TRACING TREE
1. Trace and cut out hand print on brown paper, once again making sure to trace the fingers, palm and wrist for branches and trunk for the tree. For the leaves trace only the finger and palms on a variety of different colored paper and cut out.
2. Glue the tree to a toilet paper roll using a glue stick.
3. Flip the tree over and glue the hand leaves to the back of the branches.
4. I reinforced the project with staples to keep it secure. Since it was a little top heavy we put the toilet paper roll over a pumpkin stem to hold it up right. You could also use a weight to hold it up straight or even magnets to display it on the fridge. 
You can also make a variation to look like a turkey!!! We wrote what we are thankful for on the finger feathers.
TORN PAPER TREE
You will need glue, scissors, some fall colored construction paper for leaves, and brown paper paper for your tree. One of the best parts about this craft is… NO PREP!
This activitiy is designed to work on fine motor skills. Ripping the paper is great for strengthening muscles in the hands. We ripped up yellow, brown and orange paper. My little one had a blast ripping up the paper!
Next draw your tree or trace little ones hand to make the trunk and branches.
Next glue down your leaves. This is a great time to work on vocabulary. You can talk about big which leaves are big or small and which have rough edges or smooth edges, talk about colors as well to sneak in some basic concepts and vocabulary.
***Thank you Heather L. for the Torn Paper Tree craft***
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