Activity Overview
Get all of the members of your family involved in creating a great work of art that you will want to have as a keepsake for many years to come. This project can be down on paper or canvas. Our family created one on canvas and it hangs on the wall of our playroom. It is a great way to freeze a stage of the family in time, as they grow so very quickly.
If you are having trouble finding gray paint in your home, simply mix black paint and white paint for your perfect hue. Also, this art project can certainly be tweaked so that it is a single elephant of just your child's hand print if you choose. It also will make a terrific keepsake art project.
Materials Needed
- Canvas or paper
- Gray Paint ( or black and white mixed)
- Paint Brush
- Other colored paints for scenery and elephant accents.
How to Make It
- Dip your paintbrush into the gray paint and cover the palm and fingers of each of the family members' hands.
- Have each person place his or her hand palm down on the paper or canvas towards the top of the paper, with fingers spread out. We did this in order by size.
- Remove each hand carefully to leave a gray hand print behind and set aside to dry.
- When the gray paint has dried, flip the canvas or paper over so that the fingers of the handprints are facing downward.
- Begin adorning each hand print with the features of an elephant as shown in the picture above. You will use an ear shape, an eye, use some lines on the trunk and draw a tail on the back end of each elephant.
- Finally, let each person add some scenery to the painting to create an outdoor scene on the rest of the canvas or paper.
