Hand Print Calendar: January

{Looking for a fun way to review the days of the week and months of the year? Try this hand print calendar! Students are sure to love the "hands on" artwork as well as the special poem for each month. If completed before the holidays, this makes a spectacular (and functional!) Christmas gift for mom and dad!}

January

January rings in the new year with snow and chilly temperatures, so what better to decorate the month with than a snowman! Your students will love using their hands to "build" one of these winter characters.

Supplies You'll Need

• Tempera paint
• Blue construction paper
• Buttons
• Fabric scraps (optional)

How To Make A Hand Print Snowman

Help your students paint the palm of their hand with white craft paint, place it on the right side of the blue construction paper, and press firmly. This will create part of the snowman body.

Have them wipe the excess paint off their palm then cover it again, this time covering a smaller portion. Invite them to press the painted part of their palm just above the previous print to create a head. Have students create the third part of the snowman using a paintbrush and white paint. [NOTE: They may only be able to make a partial circle underneath their prints depending on how much room there is.]

Once the snowman has dried, provide students with black, orange, and brown tempera paintbrown tempera paint for detailing. Invite them to create a black top hat, black "coal" eyes and mouth, an orange carrot nose, and brown branches for arms.

Have students select three buttons to glue onto the snowman body. Then have students secure a fabric scrap around the snowman's neck as a scarf or provide them with red kids paint to draw and paint one.

The Poem

The Snowman

• I made a great tall snowman
• With two huge coal black eyes
• And just to reach around his neck
• Took two of Daddy's ties.
• I put a hat of Mother's
• Upon his rounded head
• And then I ran and left him
• And hurried off to bed.
• When I awoke next morning
• Imagine my surprise
• My snowman had run away
• And left his hat, ties, and eyes!

Use word processing software to type out the poem, put a border around it, then print it onto card stock for your students. When their snowmen have dried fully, have your preschoolers mount the poem onto the paper. This makes a great project for a snowy day!