Hand Print Angel Craft for Christmas

I {Kayla} teach a preschool class at my church on Wednesday nights. With the holidays coming up, my assistant Kari and I wanted to help our kiddos do something special for their parents. {What's better than wrapping up a gift and making your parents WAIT - just as patiently as you have to - for Christmas day to open it?!} Not only is it a fun keepsake, this craft and purpose behind it also offered a great opportunity to teach our preschoolers about the joy of giving!

1. Start with a 5" x 7" canvas, painting the entire background royal blue. Set aside to dry.
2. When dry, paint your student's hand with white craft paint, instruct them to keep their fingers together, and firmly press their hand down in the center of the canvas to create a print - the angel's white robe.
3. If we'd had more time to craft our gifts, I would also have had them create the angel's 'wings' with hand prints. [See the craft here for the example.] Instead, I used a brush and white craft paint to quickly create the wings and my kiddos manned the glitter! Set the aside to dry.
4. Use craft paint to add the rest of the details - a head/face, hair, etc. - and glitter glue or paint to create a halo.
5. Add a verse or Christmas saying to the canvas. To save time, I printed our Christmas verse onto an adhesive label so students could simply stick it on. If you have more time, you might consider painting it on or even writing it on with a permanent marker to give it a more artsy/decorative feel.
6. Wrap the dried canvases up with a miniature easel, add a magnetic strip to the back of the print, or simply gift as is!