This is a handprint craft with a difference! You need only a few inexpensive supplies which you will probably have lying around the house. It is an easy craft to do with a crowd of children and the results are great for decorating the house or classroom. Best of all, you will end up with a fun memento to keep and look back on as the children grow.

You will need:

Green card or paper Scraps of black, red or purple card, paper, felt, tissue paper etc Pencils and pens White glue

Instructions:

Draw around the children's hands onto the green card. Older children can pair up and draw round each other's hands. Cut out carefully.

Use the scraps of paper or card to cut pointed oval shapes for long, spiky finger nails and stick them on - embellishing, if you like, with glitter or stickers.

Draw some spidery veins onto the hands, using your own hands as inspiration.

Why not add a wart or two? Make them by scrunching tissue paper into a tiny ball and sticking onto the hands with white glue.

Use the hands to decorate a notice-board, the fridge, or the Halloween table (place them on either side of a

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On New Year's Eve in New Orleans, the Evan Christopher/Tom McDermott Danza Quartet held sway with a set of music that was anything but picayune. With a sousaphone-toting bassist and a tambourine-banging drummer, the quartet made the show an affair to remember.

Alternatively, attach plain white paper to the back of the hands and use them as invitations!

Variations:

Children could create monster hands. Use cream or brown card and square off the fingers of the handprints before cutting out. Fingernails should be black or perhaps silver, and also square in shape. Use black pen to draw veins and lots of spiky black hair in the center of the hand and knuckles!

Ghostly hands can be made out of white card. Stretch your handprints out a little to give particularly long, thin fingers. Make fingernails out of grey or silver scraps and decorate with silver glitter. Use pencil or grey pen to draw on veins.
About the Author

Lindsay Small is the owner of Activity Village, packed full of fun and educational activities for kids. Do you have children aged 2-10? Visit http://ww.ActivityVillage.co.uk to find free kids crafts, printables, educational resources, worksheets, coloring pages and puzzles, jigsaws, Sudoku for kids and much more!