Summer Craft: Happy Crab Hand Craft

I think crafts made with a little one's hands and feet are just precious!  They are a great way to document how small {or big!} they are at that point in time.  A great keepsake and or gifts for family members.  The last art piece that Winston made was back in February so we were due up for something new!  One of his favorite books is The Clumsy Crab.  He loves to "read" along and does an outstanding crab impression!  Taking inspiration from his love for crabs and this pin from Pinterest, we took a few afternoons to make our very own Happy Crab Creation!

When making this craft, I wanted Winston to do everything by himself {or with very little assistance from me}.  He was in charge of where to put the glue, the sunshines and the googly eyes.  I had to remind myself to take deep breaths, stay positive, keep it fun and know that sand can be vacuumed from the carpet {since we did this in our craft room}!  I highly advise to put a smock on the kiddo and cover the surface you are using with paper.  

For this craft you will need:
    8 x 10 canvas
    Mod Podge
    Paint Brush
    Small container of sand {we used play sand}
    Painters Tape
    An empty container
    Yellow paint
    A round sponge stamp

    Red Paint

    A paper plate

    A small sponge roller

I placed a strip of painters tape on the canvas, instructed Winston to paint the glue below the yellow and let him go to town.

{Yes, glue got everywhere...hence the smock and the paper!}

After painting the on the glue, place the canvas over the empty container.  Next, pour the sand onto the glue and spread it around to cover the entire area.

Winston's job was to push the sand out of the bucket onto the canvas.  He did a great job!  {and yes, sand got everywhere.}

 Then he spread the sand around to make sure the area where he had placed glue got covered up.

Lastly, he then helped push the extra sand off of the canvas into the empty container.  {Yes, sand got everywhere!}  Then we left them to dry for a little while. 

The next step is the sun.  Using a 1" round sponge stamper and yellow paint, Winston stamped a sun into the sky on the canvas.  

He had so much fun stamping the canvases, he continued stamping the paper just so that he could use all of the paint! 

Since I didn't want the sand to flake off the canvas, after the sun was dry I took them outside and sprayed the sand with a clear coat sealer.  This guaranteed that the sand would stay in place and it gave the artwork a wet sheen!

In order to make it simple on myself, we did one hand at a time.  Winston loves to give high-fives so when we were ready to lay down his hand we would give the canvas a high-five!  To make sure that the crab would come out vibrantly red, we rolled paint onto his hand after every high-five.  To make the crab, turn the canvas portrait was and place the palm of the hand down with the thumb to the left of the canvas {away from the sand}.  Rotate the canvas 180 degrees and do the same thing with the opposite hand.  You want to make sure you have the palms of the hand prints touching {or as close as you can!}

Winston enjoyed his hands getting rolled and would squish the paint around!

High-five canvas!

Looking more and more like a Happy Crab!

While our handprints were drying, Winston helped me pick out which sized googly eyes he wanted Happy Crab to have.  He picked the largest size I had in my eye arsenal, and placed them on the thumbs once I had glue on them.  He did a fantastic job on all of them!  

I have Nipper, as we have named him, sitting on the counter in the kitchen.  When Winston sees it he stops to make his crab hands!  In allowing Winston to have more ownership {and not micromanaging him} in making this artwork, I realized how proud he was to know that he did it!  Did the vacuum cleaner get a workout?  Did I have messes to clean up afterwards?  Yes!  But, we sure did have a lot of fun!

What about you?  What are your favorite crafts to do with your littles?

All of the items used in the craft can be found at Hobby Lobby or Michaels.