Create an oversized handprint rainbow with your class. Lightly draw the arches of a rainbow on a piece of white butcher paper. Pour finger paint in the colors of the rainbow into paper plates -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple -- and set them out. Instruct the children to dip their hands into the finger paint and press them onto the arches on the butcher paper; the top arch should be red, the second arch orange and so forth, laying out the colors of the spectrum. Once the craft is complete, display it in your classroom or in a hall. Use this craft as an extension activity when teaching about rainbows, or use it to show racial harmony during a multicultural awareness unit and print the word "unity" underneath the image.
During the holiday season, use your students' handprints to create a Christmas tree. Provide your students with green construction paper and instruct them to trace both of their hands onto the paper and cut them out; if you'd like, have them write their names on the handprints so they know whose is whose. Collect the handprints and arrange them in a triangular formation on a bulletin board, creating the look of a Christmas tree. Cut out a star from yellow construction paper and display it on top of the tree and have your students cut out shapes from different colored construction paper and hang them on the tree as ornaments.
Create a one-of-a-kind flower garden in your classroom using your students' handprints as the blooms. Instruct the kids to trace one of their hands on a piece of colorful paper; red, yellow or pink, for example. Have them cut out the handprints and instruct them to cut out a rectangle and two squares from green construction paper. Attach the rectangles to the bottom of the handprints to create a stem and attach a square to either side of the bottom of the rectangle, creating leaves. Hang the flowers on a bulletin board for a cheery springtime display.
Add a touch of color to your classroom during the fall season with a handprint fall-colored tree. Draw the trunk and branches of a tree with brown marker or crayon on a piece of white butcher paper. Set out fall-colored finger paint -- yellow, orange, purple and red -- and have your students dip their hands into the paint and press them onto the branches of the tree. The handprints serve as colorful fall leaves for this classroom project. If desired, have several students create falling leaves with their handprints, or create a pile of fall-colored handprints at the bottom of the tree.