Festive fingerprint cards

It seems that every day this week I’ve come home covered in glitter and glue. ‘Tis the season for carols, chaos and crafts. Especially in school; when normal lessons seem to be put aside and everything is coated in Christmas. We’ve decorated the tree in our classroom, learned the words to countless Christmas songs, and (tried) to embrace the festive spirit of sharing and being caring. Its funny now that I can look at Christmas from their perspective, it reminds me of how exciting it all was when I was young. I loved this time of year; the buzz, the lights at a dark time.

Christmas always meant a lot to me. When I was young, it was the presents, the tree, the food. And of course they are still important, but not as much anymore. Decorating our large Christmas tree was always a ritual, with the old, familiar decorations. The cheery little baubles, the sparkly silver stars, the ornaments that Dad used when he was young. This year, we only have our tiny tree to decorate, but that sure doesn’t mean Christmas is ruined. We are rarely even all together on the 25th of December. But as long as we can celebrate together at some point,  does it really matter?

For me now, giving is much more exciting than receiving. Spending too much for one day doesn’t seem worth it. And a part of all this giving, is cards. This year, I handmade all my Christmas cards and they still look rather jolly. So I thought I’d share with you how to make something similar. Even my class managed, which should be all you needed to know to go and try these yourself!

You will need:

• A paint palette
• Red, black, white and brown finger paint
• White card
• Black, orange, brown and red pens or pencils

First, fill a paint palette with red, black, white and brown poster or finger paint.

Get some pieces of plain white card, and fold them in half for your cards. They can be whatever size you would like.

Roll up your sleeves, time to get messy. To make a reindeer card, you will need to use brown paint and either your thumb or forefinger depending on how big you want the reindeer to be (and how big your fingers are)! I used my thumb for two and my forefinger for two to create a family of different sized animals. To make a penguin, use black paint instead, and a tiny bit of white (with your pinky) on top of the black. To make a robin, just make one thumb print in red. Then leave the card to dry.

Once dry, you can add the detail. For the reindeer, use a brown pen or pencil to draw on the antlers and ears, a red pen or pencil for their noses, and a black one for their eyes.

For the penguin, use an orange pen or pencil to give them beaks and for their feet, and a black pen or pencil for their flippers and eyes.

For the robin, keep the red print on the left side and use a brown pen or pencil to create an ovular outline, as I’ve done. Then you can add the detail of feet, eyes and feathers, if you like.

You can add more, like some holly, or a background scene, which is what many of my class did. But I quite liked the simplicity of the cards as they were. The last thing I did was write a little message inside- Merry Christmas. But you can write whatever you like.

That’s it, all ready to be mailed or given to those you love most. Fun to make, and receive, I’m sure!

I can’t believe I’ve been teaching now for a whole term! Although I’m totally exhausted, its been a whole lot of fun!  Have a lovely holiday season, lots of hugs from me xx