Girls Just Wanna Have {Fingerprint} Fun!

I have been holding crafting workshops for kids this summer, bringing out the paints and the ink pads and the glue sticks for some pretty carefree fun.  Perhaps there is no better way to get back in touch with my "inner child" than to spend time with a bunch a kids so I can watch them try new things, experiment with materials, and turn projects into their own. 

At two recent print-making workshops for ages 4 to 8, we started the afternoon with some fingerprint fun.  Even when the day was over, I continued making fingerprint picture after fingerprint picture, filling pages and pages with images from Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book.

Have you seen this book?  It's basically the Bible of Fingerprint Fun!

When my husband peered over my shoulder at one point to see what I was doing, I claimed that I was making a "resource book" for future crafting workshops.  Really, I was just trying out all the pictures, and having fun!

Emberley shows how to turn simple fingerprints into pictures that demonstrate various emotions.  Here's how my pictures turned out:

In the book, these characters are perfect little circles of color.  Try as I might to just use the very tip of my finger, I ended with generally oval-shaped characters pretty much all of the time.

He has created these little figures called "Bean Buddies," using very basic stick-figure-style additions to create various characters and actions.  Here are some of my figures, based on his book:

He also has pages that have thematic ties, such as At the Pond.... 

Like my turtle family?

Aw, it's Mom and Dad Frog with the little pollywogs!

And a little duck family.

And my edition of In the Garden....

He shows how to turn fingerprints into all kinds of animals....

including birds...

There were some fun ideas for holiday fingerprint designs, which I grouped together on pages of my sketchbook:

And now, from all of these pages, my fingertips have looked pretty much like this for the past few days:

I remember making a little fingerprint mouse turned into a Christmas ornament when I was in kindergarten; I still hang it on my tree every year!  If it's been that long since YOU remember making fingerprint drawings, then I highly recommend taking a walk on the "child side," and having a little playful fun!