Thanksgiving Crafts and an itty-bitty plug for a great Suffragist

As regular readers know, the Random Handprints household is full of Thanksgivukkah cheer this holiday season, as shown in many ways including the creation of roughly 2,063 handprint menurkeys.

However, if your household is celebrating "just" Thanksgiving this year, don't worry - I have craft ideas for that, too!

Here are two easy and fun crafts that kids will love!

The Tee Pee Centerpiece:

and the Handprint Turkey Place Card:

Head over to New Jersey Family for the full directions for both at Thanksgiving Arts and Crafts.

And also, if your looking for a great Thanksgiving book to read with the kids, I love this new edition of the classic poem Over the River and Through the Wood: The New England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to the poem, which despite being from old-timey times my kids ages 4-9 all loved, there are some historical notes at the end which made me love it all the more once I heard the backstory.

To learn more about the author Lydia Maria Child, click here - and then tell me that's not a person we should be discussing over the Thanksgiving meal!

And for a review of Over the River and Through the Wood as well as two other wonderful books for the holidays, check out 3 Great Holiday Books at New Jersey Family.

Thanksgiving Activities with Kids - Printables, Handprint Turkeys and More

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and if you're like me you're feeling a combo of happiness and fear over so much family togetherness. But don't worry, I've found tons of Thanksgiving fun to keep the kids on the delightufl side over the long weekend.

Printables are a great way to go, as someone else has already done the work to create these kid-amusements. You just need to click and print. Here are some that are big hits with my kids:

Thanksgiving word search in easy version or more difficult.

Mazes: kids can help a turkey escape to the woods.

Color-by-number Turkeys - here are two for younger kids (preschool through first grade).

And last, have fun with everyone participating in Thanksgiving MadLibs!

For turkey handprints and other Thanksgiving crafts, I've got a few projects here as well as even a few more ideas here from last year.

And this year, I've got great Thanksgiving Math suggestions.

And while I can't find a photo, in 2009 we made awesome Turkey Cupcakes. My kids still talk about it. Recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker if you want to make them, too. Just imagine mine just like that... if you found them on Craft Fail.

Happy Thanksgiving! What's your favorite way to spend the weekend? Football? Turkey trot? Pie-eating?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 21 - Scary Witch Handprints {Guest Post!}

I am thrilled to share this Halloween handprint craft from Amanda of Handprint and Footprint Art. She always has the most amazingly creative ideas, and I can't thank her enough for sharing the how-to for these wicked witch handprints.

Hi! I'm Amanda, a.k.a. artsy_momma, and I am excited to share a fun Halloween craft with you today- scary witch handprints. Like Anna, I love handprint crafts and even have a whole blog dedicated to them.... over 350 posts!!!

If you have a sweet spot for crafts made with hands and feet like we do, I would love to have you join us over on my blog Handprint and Footprint Art. I mostly share our own crafts, but also do themed round up posts of other crafty people's projects and an occasional reader submission.

How to make the scary witch handprints:

Start by making green handprints or in a color of choice. Add creepy, black nails with either a marker or paint. Draw wrinkles/indentations on the fingers. Decorate the rest as you wish. We wrote "A Haunting We Will Go!" on ours. Pretty simple, huh?

We also made cute, not-so-scary monster handprints and have tons of Halloween handprint & footprint art over on our blog. If you are looking for ideas that are fun for all the holidays throughout the year, I would love to recommend our Handprint Holidays group board on Pinterest. It features bloggers from around the world, including Anna from Random Handprints... hope to "see you" over there!

Thank you Amanda for this awesome and spooky Halloween craft!

And make sure to follow Amanda on Pinterest at @Artsy_Momma - she has an incredible collection of crafts there -- over 6,000 including more than 300 on the Spook-tacular Halloween Board.

Happy Halloween!

A Cool Project for Todlers on a Hot Day

Today, scenic New Jersey was a balmy 97 degrees.

And my home... is without air conditioning.

But alas, I am not complaining because I grouse so much about the cold in the winter I promise myself - and everyone who knows me - that I will at least not complain one little bit about the heat in the summer.

So I shipped the girls off with their grandma and cousin Mary to the relative cool of the shores of Long Island, and decided to make the most of the hot day with my toddler son.

The little guy and I spent most of the day on our front steps playing with frozen blocks of ice I stuffed-up with toys and junk and other surprises just perfect for delighting a toddler.

He got to use a plastic knife to explore and excavate, and I couldn't get enough of his delighted face everytime he got something out.

It was really fun when the ice block split into two pieces, but was still attached via the strand of broken Mardi Gras beads.

Ziggy came up with the fun idea of using our wet hands to make handprints on the steps. Which obviously, I loved.

We used the chunks of ice that broke off to make drawings, and at his prompting, I wrote our names.

And while I would be lying if I said I wouldn't have chosen to end the day by going inside to an icy cold house, it was a pretty great last day of spring.

Hello to everyone here from Pinterest! I have lots more ideas for summer fun with kids on my Summer Pinterest Board. And you can follow me on Pinterest here.

I also love sharing ideas on Facebook, come on over and like Facebook.com/RandomHandprints.

Handprint Craft for Mother's Day

My daughter Kay was nice enough to let me trace her hands to make this easy Mother's Day craft.

To make it, all you have to do is fold a sheet of paper in half, and trace one hand with the thumb and second finger handing over the side of the crease a little:

Then, when you cut out the hand, you get two hands and a bonus heart between them.

Kay added the little hearts and the precious words.

And the truly best part, Kay let me have her creation early so I could use it for my post on New Jersey Family about how to make this very craft.

And if that isn't the true spirit of Mother's Day, I don't know what is.

Read the full instructions at Handprints and Hearts Craft for Mother's Day.

Crafts and Snowflakes with Q-Tips

My daughter Kay was home today with a hurt hand - an injury she received while crouching by the side of the ATM and invoking her favorite alternate persona, Baby Fish. Unfortunately for Kay Baby Fish, while crouched she nudged a big piece of marble that fell on her hand, er or would that actually be her fin?



Ironically enough, this all happened on the way to a well-child visit to the pediatrician. But instead we came into the waiting room like it was an ER with Kay (Baby Fish had swam away by now) sobbing hysterically and her hand already swelled up to the size and color of a boxing glove.



Anyway, the hand still isn't quite right (although thankfully an x-ray revealed no break) so she stayed home today with me. 



As you may recall, last time she was home from school we made toothpick art:

Not to be outdone, today I brought out the Q-tips.



She made a bunch of cool designs:

and this awesome snowflake:

And while I will admit I sorta think she should've gone to school, as long as Kay Baby Fish was home, I'm glad we got to spend some time together and make these q-tip crafts.



For more fun snowflake crafts you can make with clever items like price tag stickers check out Simple & Striking Snowflake Crafts for Kids.


And yes, you can learn how to make a handprint snowflake here.

Handprint Crafts for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I'll be honest, I didn't think Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was exactly full of handprint craft opportunities.

But I was wrong. There are tons of handprint crafts symbolizing unity, tolerance and all that handprint jazz.

Here's a great Handprint Unity Wreath from Handprint and Footprint Art:

Looking for more ideas? I pinned a bunch on a Pinterest board: Martin Luther King, Jr. handprint crafts.

And why yes, Pinterest is my newest addiction.  If you're there as well, let me know so I can follow you and your pins!

Bringing the Hanukkah Pretty at Kirtsy

Today I'm over at Kirtsy with A Hanukkah Celebration slideshow of incredible food, fancy table settings, and some kitschy decorations, too.

Here's my favorite: The Hanukkah House


Image Source: About.com

  If you're looking for even more Hanukkah pretty, I've got a Hanukkah Foods, Crafts and Decorations Board at Pinterest, too.

Note: If you're not already addicted to Pinterest, don't click the link above. I can't be responsible for the resulting time suck.

Hanukkah Menorahs You Have to See to Believe

Last year I put together a series of eight posts of weird, unique, quirky, inflated, Santa'd and downright ugly menorahs for Hanukkah.

Here's a few of the more absurd menorahs that were featured (my personal favorites for being totally ridiculous are of course the dog-hat menorahs):

And with all that searching for outlandish menorahs, of course I found a few beautiful menorahs, too:

To see last year's collection of menorahs in all their glory, check out the Eight Days of Ugly Menorahs:

Part I: Muttel and Catzel
Part II: The Cats Edition
Part III: The Dogs Edition
Part IV: The Inflatables
Part V: The Hats and Pets Edition
Part VI: The Inflatables
Part VII: What's a Nice Menorah Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
Part VIII: The Christmas Menorahs Edition

And because I still couldn't stop, I've also got from last year all these posts about (you guessed it!) menorahs:

• Menorah-Topped Cars and a lovely Ice Menorah
• I can see a little light... an ode to beautiful menorahs
• The Nostalgia Edition - featuring my kids lighting the menorah
• Menorahs you can make from handprints, branches, metrocards and cupcakes - which are all pretty snazzy, like this one from A Design Affair:

And of course, my menorah wrap-up wouldn't be complete without the post that started it all, which is about how I was lucky enough to meet the incredible bloggers Nicole from Momtrends and Jill from Glamamom - which makes suffering through ugly menorahs totally worth it and then some.

Do you know of a spectacularly ugly  - or pretty - menorah? Please leave a comment or a link so I can add it to the collection!

Winter Holiday Handprint Crafts - Christmas, Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice, too

Are you here from a search you just did for hand print arts and crafts for the holidays?

Whether you are looking for a Christmas tree, a handprint wreath,a Hannukah menorah or a non-denominational winter solstice craft .... you've come to the right place if you want to make it with handprints.

Image Source

Hanukkah menorah

And if you're just looking for a general collection of winter ideas, we have snowflakes,snowy trees and a polar bear:

And if you are here looking for a handprint craft project we don't have...just leave a comment and let me know, and I'll be sure to add it!

Happy holiday handprint crafting!

Looking for even more handprint crafts? Here's the full list.

Make or Bake a Handprint Turkey for Thanksgiving!

Photo from Real Simple

I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about this, but most of my site traffic is from people looking for handprint crafts. (Actually, they're looking for hand print crafts, but I like writing handprint as one word instead of two.)

So, love it or hate it, I have embraced it.

I even made a slide show over at Kirtsy today of, you guessed it, handprint turkeys.

And there are lots more hand print turkey craft ideas here in a post I wrote for Thanksgiving last November.

So, however you are crafting or baking your handprint turkeys, enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Find the full list of handprint crafts here.

October Handprint Crafts: Columbus Day, Pumpkins & Halloween

October brings many things - the Columbus Day holiday, fall weather, changing leaves, pumpkins and their patches and at the end of the month... Halloween!

Here are handprint crafts to celebrate it all:

Columbus Day is on Monday, October 10. Almost Unschoolers has this great Hand Print Mayflower Craft, which I'm thinking is the same style boat Columbus sailed over on, and can be re-purposed for this holiday, but to be honest I don't really know for sure. Any tall ships experts who can weigh-in here?

And it's really this boat or nothing, as I'm guessing none of you really want to make handprint crafts depicting genocide or the slave trade.

The end of the month brings a much more cheerful holiday - that's right, October 31 is Halloween!

First of all, how great is this handprint Jack O'Lantern:

And here's another cute pumpkin handprint from Little Giraffes, who have a whole Calendar of Handprints:

Ramblings of a Crazy Woman has these not-too-wicked handprint black spiders:

One of my favorite craft sites is Handprint and Footprint Art, and she has directions for a ton of great Halloween crafts from witches to Frankenstein to ghosts and candy corn.

I'm also a big fan of the handprint spider tie dye Halloween shirt.

And don't forget, pumpkins are the perfect surface for handprints! Full directions for these are also at Fun Handprint Art:

If you're looking for fall crafts celebrating autumn leaves and foliage, apples and apple trees, they're all in the post for September crafts. You can also see all the handprint crafts for the entire year here.

This post completes twelve months of handprint crafts, next month brings us full-circle back to where we started with the handprint-iest of all the crafts - the handprint turkey.

Handprint Crafts for September - Apple Trees, Fall Foliage and the Rosh Hashanah Holiday

Here in the northeast, September is all about apples, much like October is all about pumpkins. (Note: I am not jumping on the Halloween-in-September bandwagon. There will be no talk of Halloween here until October 1 at the earliest.)

There is no shortage of handprint crafts focusing on apples. In addition to the back to school apple handprint craft featured here last month, there are also lots of great options for making handprint apple trees.

I love this family apple tree from I can teach my child, where each person can add a red painted-fingerprint apple to the tree made from green construction paper handprints - each person gets to add one of these, too.

I also love this handprint tree from Three Peas in a Pod which really captures the changes colors of the fall foliage, I know my kids would love to make this one. The leaves are made with fingerprints. Too cute.

I also love apples and honey to celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. This year the holiday falls on September 28-30. Creative Jewish Mom always has the best holiday crafts, and Rosh Hashanah is no exception. Two of my favorites are:
the wine cork stamp apple cards:

and the bubble wrap apple cards:

To see lots more great Rosh Hashanah ideas, visit Creative Jewish Mom.

This month also brings the autumnal equinox on September 23, but I'm not sure how exactly to celebrate that with a handprint craft. So if you have any ideas, please let me know.

Happy September crafting!

Fun Flags and Fireworks for July Fourth - A few Ideas for Handprint Crafts and Cute Holiday Foods

July Fourth is one of my favorite summer holidays.

The Fourth of July will be here before we know it, and what better way to celebrate Independence Day than with a festive and patriotic handprint craft?  I also found so many cute July 4th food ideas, I had to share some of those, too.

Here are a few of my favorites (if they look familiar, some were already featured here for Memorial Day and Flag Day):

The Patriotic Bald Eagle:

Photo from All Kids Network

And how awesome is this Edible Eagle?

Photo from Family Fun

There is also always the handprint American Flag:

Photo from Lesson Plans Page

And the handprint and footprint American Flag:

Photo from Serendipity

And (of course) the edible Fresh Fruit Flag:

Photo from Preschool Rock

I also love these elegant edible flag cupcakes from Diary of a Ladybird:

And last, what would July 4th be without the fireworks?  Make 'em with handprints:

Picture from All Kids Network

Or make these candy-licious July Fourth Fireworks Cupcakes from Parentdish:

These cupcakes are made with assorted candy - jelly beans, cut licorice, swedish fish, etc. - and I love that each kid can decorate an individual fireworks display on their own cupcake. You could also use the candy to make American flag cupcakes, love this version from Sugar & Sprinkles:

Happy July Fourth!!!!

For more July Fourth ideas, check our archives. And we've got a lot of patriotic red, white and blue ideas on Pinterest, too.

Would love to hear how you'll be celebrating the Fourth of July. We'll be taking our annual beach vacation, and I'll be making my family favorite red velvet and blue velvet cake, but that's a recipe for another post...

Handprint Crafts for June - Graduations, Flag Day and Father's Day

It's June and the crafting is easy with grads and dads to celebrate, as well as the grand ol' flag. And yes, I've found handprint crafts to share for all these holidays. You can also check some of the previous handprint craft posts for suns, flowers and other fun crafts for summertime.

For many families, June brings a graduation or a "moving up' ceremony.  I love this personalized graduation certificate from Makes and Takes, made with a child's handprint. This project is easy enough to make at school with every child in the class, or at home for a family keepsake:

Photo from MakesandTakes.com

Flag Day is on Saturday, June 14. This holiday commemorating the adoption of the 13-star version of the Flag of the United States in 1777 (the 50-star version was adopted on July 4, 1960) is the perfect time to make a handprint flag with your own little patriots:

Photo from LessonPlansPage.com

You can also make a flag with handprints and footprints. Serendipity has great instructions for making this patriotic masterpiece:

Photo from Serendipity

Father's Day is Sunday, June 15, and I love combining the handprint theme with the sentiment "Best Dad, Hands Down" on everything from tee shirts to ceramic tiles to greeting cards.

Roots and Wings Co. has a version on canvas,which is explained in great detail, but to be honest, still seems like it would be a lot of work for a regular person like me to create. Still, it looks so good it would be worth the effort. I'm planning to give it my best mom-try with the kids.

Photo from Roots and Wings Co.

I also love this Father's Day Hand Print Sun Catcher. The Homeschool Classroom has very detailed instructions, and a reminder for along the way that it's the process not the product. So true in life in general, and especially when crafting with kids.

Happy June, happy handprint crafts, and happy summer!

Have other great crafts to share? Please leave your links in the comments below.