Recently, we’ve really dived headfirst into handprint crafts for kids.

Once we did our first handprint craft, we were hooked.

The kids love seeing their hands transform into fun characters and parents enjoy watching them use their creativity and imagination to make the crafts.

Since winter is right around the corner, we decided to create a new winter themed handprint craft.

This cardinal handprint craft is the perfect winter craft for kids of all ages!

If you’re looking for more fun winter crafts for your children or students, read or watch below to see how simple this one is to create.

Cardinal Handprint Craft

It’s so exciting for kids to turn just a few simple supplies into something totally new and different.

This handprint craft is not only fun but also gives them an opportunity to work on things like proper pencil grasp, cutting practice, following directions and more!

Cardinal Hand Print Supplies

• Colored cardstock or construction paper
• Scissors
• Cotton balls
• Glue stick
• Googly eyes (optional)
• 1″ and .5″ circle punch (optional; you can also freehand with scissors)
• Standard hole punch (optional)

Directions

Trace your child’s hand twice on the red cardstock and cut out each handprint.

Cut out a beak and legs for the cardinal from the yellow cardstock.

Cut a long strip of brown cardstock out for the base of the tree and two shorter ones for the branches.

Glue the long strip of brown cardstock vertically onto the light blue cardstock. Glue the branches horizontally onto the tree trunk.

Make the cardinal by positioning one handprint sideways and the other handprint angled down. Glue together.

Cut out a rectangular shape from the black cardstock and then cut the corners off of two sides (like in the picture).

Glue the black rectangle onto the cardinal with a small overlap on the edge and then trim to the handprint.

Punch out a .5″ circle from the black cardstock and a 1″ circle from the white cardstock. Use the hole punch to punch out a small white circle.

Assemble the cardinal’s eye by gluing the small white circle onto the 1″ black circle. Then glue the 1″ black circle onto the 2″ white circle.

Alternatively, you can use a large googly eye too!

Glue the eye onto the black rectangle.

Glue the beak and legs onto the cardinal body and then glue the entire bird onto the top branch.

Tear apart a cotton ball and glue on the branches and all over the page to resemble snow falling.

This is such a fun handprint craft to make together with your kids this winter season!

Benefits Of This Craft

Sometimes as parents we just think we’re having fun with our kids when we craft. Of course, we totally are but there’s actually lots of benefits besides memory building! 

When kids work on this craft they’re getting tons of cutting practice and fine motor skills. Every piece of the bird and the tree requires kids to strengthen the muscles in their hand and work with precision. 

Kids also are engaging both sides of their brain. The right, creative side is imagining exactly what they want their completed picture to look like while the left, logical side is planning what part needs to go where. 

Simplifying This Craft

If you’re doing this craft with a large group of kids or with very young children, there are a few ways to simplify the craft. 

First, you can completely eliminate the second handprint. We personally love the way the second handprint makes the double bird wings, but you can also just leave it off and it will still look cute. 

Second, you can remove the card stock legs and tree. Instead, you can draw them on with crayons or markers, or simply make the handprint bird without a background. 

Another suggestion is to remove the cotton balls and use snowflake stickers instead. 

As you can see, there’s lots of ways to make this craft simpler for young kids like toddlers! 

Share With Us

Did you make this craft with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!

For a chance to have your child’s craft featured, simply snap a picture of the completed project and post it to our Facebook page, email it to us directly by clicking here, or use #simpleeverydaymom on your social media!

More Winter Craft For Kids

• Simple Santa Handprint Craft
• Handprint Reindeer Craft
• Photo Eskimo Craft For Kids
• Snowflake Decorating Craft

More Winter Ideas For Kids