Handprint Birds
Featured Crafts
Supplies Needed
- Construction paper (8.5"x11" or 9"x12")
- Washable tempera or finger paint
- Feathers
- Colored drinking straws
- Wiggle eyes
- Paint brushes
- Crayons or colored pencils
- Scissors
- White glue
- Transparent tape
STEPS
1Prepare a sheet of paper.
Prepare a small sheet of construction paper (e.g. 8.5"x11" or 9"x12"). You can use any color of paper but for best results, choose a color that is similar to the bird you want to make.
2Paint your hand.
Once you've decided the bird's color, paint your hand with washable tempera or finger paint.
If you want a multi-colored bird, paint your hand with different colors of paint. Take note which part of your hand corresponds to the bird's body, head, neck and tail.
- Thumb - neck and head
- Palm - body
- Fingers - tail feathers
3Press your hand onto the paper.
Position your thumb upright and the rest of your fingers at right angles with the thumb. Spread the fingers apart.
Keeping your thumb and fingers in this position, carefully press your painted hand onto the sheet of construction paper. Press for several seconds before removing your hand.
4Let the handprint dry.
Check out the neat colored handprint. Set the paper aside to dry.
5Cut a pair of drinking straw legs.
Cut a pair of drinking straws to make the bird's legs. Estimate the length of the legs based on the size of your handprint and the type of bird you're making. For instance, an ostrich will need super long legs versus, say, a pigeon.
6Create the bird's feet.
Cut four 1-inch long slits on one end of each drinking straw to create fringes. Fold out the fringes to create the bird's feet.
7Draw the bird's head.
Once the colored handprint is dry, you can now draw details to make it into a bird.
Draw a circle at the tip of the thumb to create the bird's head.
8Draw the beak.
Draw the bird's beak and color it in.
9Draw an outline of the body.
Draw an outline following the edges of your handprint to define the bird's neck, body and tail.
10Cut out the bird.
Cut out along the outline.
11Attach the legs.
Glue or tape the drinking straw legs at the back of the bird.
12Create an eye.
Draw an eye or glue a wiggle eye, a small button or a bead.
You can also make an eye by gluing a pair of small paper circles like I did—a white circle and a smaller black circle inside.
13Glue some feathers.
Finally, decorate your bird with some colorful feathers.
Check out the section below for more handprint bird crafting ideas.
More Ideas
Position your fingers close together.
Instead of spreading out your fingers as shown in Step 3, keep your four fingers close together when pressing your painted hand on the paper. This is a great way to make birds with short or pointed tail feathers like ducks, geese, pigeons or sparrows.
Use flexible drinking straws.
Flexible drinking straws are great for making birds with bendable legs.
Draw more details before Step 10.
Birds are a diverse group and there are details that you need to add to capture a particular bird's look. A chicken, for example, needs a comb on top of its head and a wattle under the beak. You can draw these features anytime before cutting out the bird in Step 10.
Make an upside-down handprint.
An upside-down handprint is a terrific way to make an owl, a peguin, or any other cute chubby bird. Note that the bird will be facing front as opposed to the side-facing birds in all the examples above.
Your handprint's four fingers correspond to the bird's body while the thumb makes up one wing. You will need to draw details like the owl's other wing and its pair of horns while making the bird's body outline in Step 9.
Create long-necked birds.
The thumb in your handprint is obviously too short to be the neck of birds like flamingos, ostriches or swans. You'll need to draw the bird's long neck and head from your handprint's thumb.
