Handprint Dinosaurs

Today is the kickoff to Summer Fun Fridays for 2024. Each year we do a series of posts every Friday geared towards fun activities for kids and families to do this summer. To start things off this year, we have these adorable handprint dinosaurs!

Be sure to scroll down because we have a freebie for you too. It’s a printable book jam-packed with more than 40 pages of coloring pages, activities, and games for your kids to use this summer.

Handprint Dinosaurs

Supplies:

1. Colored cardstock paper
2. Pencil
3. Craft glue
4. Googly eyes
5. Scissors
6. Colored Markers
7. Template

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE SUMMER FUN ACTIVITY BOOK.

Instructions:

Step 1:

Download, print and cut out the template pattern. Select colored cardstock for the dinosaur pattern. The template includes patterns for body base, head, spots and the scales. Trace the template patterns on the selected papers and cut them out using scissors.

Of course, it’s even more fun for many kids to trace and cut out your own hand shape but we’ve included a hand shape just in case you need it (some kids don’t like having their hands traced).

Step 2:

Attach the head cutout with the handprint body cutout, on the pinky side.

Step 3:

Attach the scale cutout along the palm side of the handprint body.

Step 4:

Attach the spot cutouts on the handprint body’s palm part.

Step 5:

Use a matching marker to trace outlines on the head and handprint parts. This helps them look more defined. You will want to be sure the kids have a scrap piece of paper or something like that under their dinosaur as they complete this step to ensure that they don’t get marker on their work surface.

Step 6:

Attach googly eyes on the head pattern.

Step 7:

Use a black marker to draw the nose and mouth of the paper craft dinosaur.

You can make a whole herd of these dinosaurs and hang them up as a mobile, display them in a window or on a wall, or add a little bit of magnetic tape on the back to use them as fridge magnets. (For the fridge magnets, we like to make them out of craft foam instead of paper so they hold up longer).