Summer is all about letting loose and having fun in the sun! Here’s a guaranteed way to have fun with the kids this summer as you head out into the sunshine.

You’re sure to get the hands (and feet, if you wish!) a little messy with paint while making a craft that is sure to bring even more sunshine to those delightful summer days!
What’s even better? There aren’t very many supplies or tools required to make this a summer craft with the little ones a hit.

You’ll need paper grocery sacks, kid appropriate scissors, masking tape, yellow craft paint, foam paint brush, two pieces of brown cardstock, a scalloped circle or regular circle punch and regular school glue.

Cut the bottom flaps off of your paper grocery sacks, and then use scissors to slice one side of the bag to give you one long piece of kraft paper. If you don’t access to grocery sacks, a roll of kraft wrapping paper works just as well. Use masking tape to secure the paper to your work surface to keep it from shifting.

Teach the child how to paint the entire palm of their hand, along with their fingers. Going heavy-handed on the paint will be more beneficial and provide a more colorful end result.

Then show them how to press their hand onto the paper sack. Each flower requires 15 – 20 handprints. Washing paint from hands immediately after the last handprint will result in much happier children as you won’t need to scrub too much.

While you are allowing the paint to dry, trace the inside circle of both the smallest and the second smallest circle in the Supersized Shapes Circle Template pack, onto brown cardstock and cut out.

Use a scalloped punch to punch as many circles as you can from another 12” x 12” piece of brown cardstock. Crumble each punched piece up to create texture.

Once handprints are dry, show child how to cut out the handprints. You’ll want to instruct them to cut as close as possible to the painted handprints, reminding them to cut in between each finger.

I believe there is nothing more frustrating to a child than trying to maneuver an oversized, made-for-adults, pair of scissors. The most important piece of advice I can offer for how to help kids feel successful about their artwork is to provide them with age appropriate tools, including scissors. Keep in mind that Fiskars helps take the guesswork out of choosing the proper pair for your child by labeling their packaging with appropriate ages in the lower right corner of their scissor products.

Then, staple a single layer of handprints onto the larger brown cardstock circle so that the finger ‘petals’ are evenly spaced.

Adhere the smaller brown circle, centered, over the stapled handprints. Finish off by adding depth and dimension by gluing down the crumbled scalloped circles over top the brown circle.

Allow to dry completely before putting it on display.

Here are a few variations:If you prefer a more flat sunflower center, kids will love getting to play with the original paper crimper or the wave paper crimper. Simply feed your smaller brown circle into the crimper in one direction, then rotate your paper ¼ turn and feed it through again. This creates a more subtle waffle-weave texture.

Add a fallen twig to the back of the sunflower by simply taping it on with duct-tape for a fun way to display it in your garden.