Jungle Hand Print Craft for Kids
This week on Rainy Day Mum as part of our Story Book Summer we’re welcoming other bloggers to come and share a favourite Jungle Book and create a craft or activity based around the book. Today I welcome Amanda from Fun Handprint Art and Artsy Momma who is going to share a fun craft for the book Bedtime in the Jungle.
Hi, I’m Amanda and I am excited to be sharing a handprint elephant craft with all of you as part of Jungle week here on Rainy Day Mum. I have two kids who are ages 3 and 6. We would love for you to visit our blogs Fun Handprint Art and Artsy Momma where we share our love of crafts and hands-on learning.
Recently, we took a trip to the library where we checked out the book Bedtime in the Jungle by John Butler. It’s a cute story about all the different jungle mommies putting little ones to sleep. It’s starts off with 1 baby rhino and then goes to 2 different baby animals, then three and so on until ten baby animals get put to sleep. The counting makes it great for younger kids like my daughter while still enjoyable for slightly older kids like my son. It is written in the same style as the song Over in the Meadow but with a night time jungle theme. You can even sing the book to that same tune making it a sweet, soothing, bedtime song.
To go along with the theme of the book, we decided to make a mommy & me craft together. We debated between elephants and jaguars and settled on making handprint elephants.
We have included links to the products and books used in this activity. If you buy from these links we may earn a small commission.
Supplies needed for Jungle Handprint Craft
- Gray, green, white, and black paint
- Paintbrush
- Brown paper lunch bag
- Scissors
- Glue
- Jumbo construction paper
- Fake leaves – optional
How to make the handprint elephants jungle scene:
- Have the kids paint the mom’s hand with the gray paint. Make a print so that the fingers are pointed down and near the bottom of the page.
- Paint each child’s hand and have them make a print near the mom’s handprint.
- Paint a gray tail on each handprint keeping in mind that the thumb will create the elephant’s trunk.
- While the paint is drying, cut a brown paper lunch bag into strips. Have the kids crumple the strips of paper.
- Add glue around the sides of the paper as well as the top of the page so that it resembles tree trunks with branches. Add the crumbled paper bag strips to create the trees. I like how it also frames the artwork.
- Glue the fake leaves to the branches. If you do not have fake leaves, you could instead paint them on or even make green thumbprint leaves. The kids may also like tearing pieces of green tissue paper and gluing them to the ends of the branches.
- When the gray paint is dry, use the tip of a small paintbrush to paint tiny white dots for the elephant’s toes. Also make a white circle for the eye.
- Use the black paint to make a smaller circle inside the white circle.
- Paint a simple black outline for the elephant ears.
- Next, paint just the fingers with green paint and make prints along the bottom edge to create grass.
- Repeat this step as many times needed so that it spans across the entire bottom of the page.
Not only does this jungle craft and story make an enjoyable way to spend quality time together, it also makes a memorable keepsake and looks great hanging up as decor or refrigerator art!
More Jungle Themed Activities and Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Jungle Small World Play Inspired by Edward in the Jungle
Trunk Trouble Paperplate Snake Craft
Jungle Collage inspired by Zoe’s Jungle
More Handprint and Footprint crafts from Artsy Momma.
List of footprint and handprint animals with different categories.
Butterfly Busy Bag for Preschoolers
Beat the Heat this Summer with Insta-snow – small world play
Amanda is an ‘artsy momma’ who enjoys sharing her passion for creativity with her two children. Join them on their creative journey through crafts, play-based learning, and hands-on fun on their blog Artsy Momma. She also has a sweet spot for creating handprint art and you can find hundreds of projects on their other blog Fun Handprint Art.