8 Crafts To Preserve Your Child’s Handprints & Footprints

As parents, we have our days when we can’t wait until our children are old enough to take care of themselves and not need to depend on us for so much. However, there is also that big part in our hearts that wants them to stay little for as long as possible. These 8 hand print crafts will help to preserve those memories of their younger days and how small they really were. Who knows, maybe one of these would make a great Mother’s Day gift as well (hint, hint)! All of these kids craft projects use handprints.

Looking for more Handprint crafts? Check out these Handprint articles we wrote previously. You may want to purchase a ready-made kit for a handprint keepsake too.

1- Handprint Apron from Little Page Turners

2- Love You Hand Prints from Lil Luna

3- Sunshine Keepsake Print from The Realistic Mama

4- Salt Dough Footprint Heart from Hub Pages

5- Thumbprint Family Tree from Day 2 Day Supermom

6- Handprint Bouquet from Wallfry

7- Hand Shaped Ring Dish from Mama Papa Bubba

8- Handprint Cupckae Card from I Heart Arts N Crafts

Looking for more salt dough projects? check these salt dough crafts out on our sister site Craftbits.com

If you are looking for an airdrying clay as an alternative I highly recommend Das Airdrying white clay I have been using it for over 30 years and it never fails me.

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Hand Print Crafts for Father's Day

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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