Winter is nearly here and we’re getting a head start on fun activities for the kids!

Recently we made a cute polar bear puppet and today we’re sharing this easy polar bear handprint craft.

It’s super simple and comes with a free printable template, so it great for using at home or in the classroom.

The polar bear craft is well suited for preschoolers, kindergarten and elementary children, but can also be used with toddlers if they have some adult help. It’s a fun winter animal craft for kids!

Since polar bears are arctic animals, it also makes a great craft idea for an arctic animal themed study unit.

Read on below or watch our simple video tutorial to see how easy it is to make this handprint polar bear!

Handprint Polar Bear

We love handprint crafts for kids because they’re easy and cheap to make. We suggest using colored card stock, but if that’s not in the budget you can always use construction paper!

Besides paper, you’ll also need scissors and a glue stick! Can you believe how little you need to make this craft?!

In our example, we used foam snowflake stickers, but those are optional. If you don’t have any feel free to draw snowflakes on, use glue and salt to make snowflakes or skip the snowflake details altogether!

Supplies

• Colored card stock (in blue and light blue)
• White card stock
• Black marker
• Pink marker
• Glue stick (this is our new favorite type)
• Scissors
• Foam sticker snowflakes
• Polar bear handprint template

Directions

Download the polar bear template, print and cut out the pieces.

Trace your child’s hand on a piece of white paper. Cut out the handprint and set aside.

Glue the polar bear’s head onto the thumb.

Use the pink marker to draw in the polar bear’s inner ear and cheeks.

Use the black marker to draw the claws onto the bottom of the polar bear’s feet.

Glue the largest iceberg towards the bottom of the blue card stock. Glue the smaller icebergs higher on the paper.

Use the black marker to make water lines on the blue piece of card stock.

Place glue along the back of the polar bear handprint and glue it onto the large iceberg.

Place the foam snowflake stickers all around the paper for decoration.

This is such a fun and simple winter craft for kids to make. If your children enjoyed making it, they’ll also love making this wintery cardinal handprint craft!

Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to download the free printable template.

Crafting Benefits

Did you realize that crafting with your kids (or students) is a fun way to teach them valuable skills?

Yeah, no joke!

It’s by far our favorite way to work on fine motor skills.

Since fine motor skills are necessary for learning how to write it’s important that we, as parents, help our kids work on them.

One great way to do that is to give kids an opportunity to practice cutting with scissors. If your child is older and able to use scissors already, they can do all the cutting in this craft from the icebergs to the handprint.

If however, your child is only beginning to learn to cut properly with scissors, then you’ll have to cut out the handprint for them.

You can have them assist you by cutting out the smaller icebergs. All they need to do is cut straight lines to make these.

Another easy way this polar bear craft helps kids with fine motor skills is with the snowflake stickers.

Being able to pull the foam stickers off the sticker backing and placing them exactly where they want them on the page will require patience and delicate hands.

Children will also get the added benefit of using the black marker to draw on the waves. This will help them practice holding a marker properly, which is essential to writing!

That’s just a few of the ways this easy winter craft helps your child develop their skills.

So the next time you make a craft with your kids, just remember it’s fun and educational!

More Winter Fun For Kids

Find tons of other fun winter activities for the kids to do at home or at school!

Start off with books! We all know how beneficial reading to kids is, so let’s get some more bedtime reading in. Grab these books from the local library or buy them from Amazon to add them to your home library.

The Biggest Snowman Ever – When the mayor of Mouseville announces the town snowman contest, Clayton and Desmond claim that they will each make the biggest snowman ever.

The Snowy Day – This story shows a child’s wonder at a new world and the hope of capturing and keeping that wonder forever.

Sneezy The Snowman– Sneezy is COLD! And he’s trying to warm up without success. But, the kids know exactly how to help him!

These winter activity coins will kick boredom to the curb! They’re cute and a fun way to discover new ideas.

Pull out this winter play dough kit to give the kids some fun hands-on sensory play!

If you want some educational and fun activities try out these winter do a dot printables.

Get All Our Favorite Handprint Animal Crafts

Polar Bear Template