Jack's Santa Hand

Jack has had three "homework" assignments for preschool. Each one was an art project to put on the classroom bulletin board. Each time I have forgotten about the task and rushed to get Jack to do it. The first two I let Jack do all by himself. I told myself this is the correct approach. Let kids do the work themselves. However, what I have come to realize is that preschoolers need a little help. 

Jack's assignment for the December bulletin board was to trace his hand, cut it out and decorate it. I asked Jack what he wanted to put on his hand and he had no idea. Now, I must be honest, I don't like crafts. I just don't find it fun. I actually find it stressful and messy. But, I wanted to help Jack produce something he could be proud of without doing it for him. 

First Jack and I searched for "christmas hand crafts" on the internet. Wow! There were tons of options which was a relief because I am not creative in an artistic way. I think Jack actually is creative, and he enjoys cutting and gluing. 

I showed Jack about five different hand options and he liked the Santa face. I dug under the bathroom sink for cotton balls, pulled out the glue and scissors, grabbed my gift wrapping box and we got started. 

I traced Jack's hand and helped him cut it out. He then looked at the picture on the computer and put glue on each finger and placed a cotton ball on each glue spot. Jack chose a blue nose from our craft box. (I do have a craft box for the kids even though we rarely do crafts.)

I then asked Jack what he wanted to make Santa's hat out of. I pulled out a red sheet of construction paper. Jack said he wanted to use the Christmas ribbon. I thought that would be way cooler than my idea. So I cut out a piece of ribbon for him with my big scissors. Jack glued the ribbon on and then glued a cotton ball on the end. Jack's one request was that I draw the eyes because, "we don't have googlie eyes like at school."

The result was a super cute Santa hand. Jack's art project is now proudly displayed on the bulletin board at school.