Handprint Snowmen Ornaments

It's been a tradition in our home to hang a new ornament each year for each of our kids with the intent to eventually pass the ornaments on to them when they have their own home/family. Traditionally I have been purchasing ornaments to some how commemorate their year/Christmas. My son's first ornament for instance was a pair of blue porcelain baby booties (he was just 2 months old at his first Christmas) and my twin girls received silver "JOY" ornaments for their first Christmas (their middle names are both JOY). This year, however, I thought I'd go a different route and make their ornaments inspired by this pin.

My son is really getting into the crafting spirit these days and at the age (3) where anything that involves paint is fun. It was a really simple craft and didn't require a lot of supplies. All that is needed is an ornament (I used old plastic ornaments we had lying around (so as to avoid breakage when it inevitably falls from the tree from kiddy fingers unable to keep hands off!)) and various colours of acrylic craft paint (perfect use for all those dollar store paints I had sitting around!). I also made use of a toothpick and small paintbrush to paint the final details of the snowmen.

I started with one of my daughters (18 months) but quickly realized that paint and toddlers (at least my toddlers) don't mix. I painted her hand with a paintbrush as suggested and put the ornament in and closed her hand around it only to have her smear her hand around thereby making a big "blob" instead of a hand-print as intended. I quickly went to rinse the ornament off to avoid the paint drying but was quickly reminded by my 3 yr. old son that I had forgotten to first remove the paint from my daughter's hand and she was nicely "decorating" my kitchen floor. Oops. As a result I scratched the plan to make ornaments for my daughters this year and opted to retry next year. My son, however, LOVED the idea and was quite willing to hold his hand out flat while I painted his hand and placed the ornament in it. He then closed his hand around it and voila! Even though some of the finger-prints weren't "perfect" it still looks adorable and very workable for me to later go in and add the hats, eyes and carrot noses. My son is sure to point out his ornament to anyone who comes to our home, so I consider it a huge success as far as crafts go :). I would recommend doing it with children over the age of 2 (depending on your child's level of understanding) and in a space that you can easily clean/don't care if it gets dirty. And as always with paint - make sure they are wearing clothes that can get dirty, because inevitably they will!