{Mermaid Handprint Painting Outdoors}



Princess Pea is mermaid crazy these days!
She's having a mermaid birthday party next weekend, 
so we're in full mermaid-creating mode around here!

The girls (and I!) had so much fun last weekend doing a mermaid handprint painting outdoors! 


It was really quite simple to make the handprint mermaids, and even 2 year old Sweet Pea was able to make her own with just a little help. We found the handprint idea in the Usborne book 'Mermaid Things to Make and Do'. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Paint your whole hand orange (or whatever colour you want your mermaid's hair to be), and press it, fingers spread wide, onto the paper. Repeat at a slightly different angle to make more hair.

2. When it's more or less dry, paint a circle over part of the palm, to make the face.

3. Use your fingers to make shoulders and arms with sweeping outward strokes.

4. Paint your whole hand blue-ish green and with your fingers closed tight, press it with the palm end at the shoulders and the fingers pointing downwards to make the body.

5. Paint just your middle three fingers in the same blue-ish green and press down twice, with fingers closed, at 45 degree angles to make the tail.

6. Once dry, use a marker or fine paintbrush to add facial features and decorative additions (jewelry, hair accessories, scales, etc.).

7. Add glitter for a special touch.



If you like, you can use real sand along the bottom, as we did, to make the sea floor. 
 It would be even better if you had some more gravelly sand, but we just scooped a little fine sand out of the sandbox.

We also fingerprinted seaweed, fish, octopuses and jellyfish.


We love our mermaid painting and the girls can't wait to display it at the mermaid birthday party!


Love mermaids too? Be sure to check out this month's Time for Mama series post - how to make a Waldorf-inspired mermaid doll! There's even a chance to win the doll!

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