Simple Hand Tracing Activity

Preparation Time : 10 minutes
Activity Time: 20 minutes

Materials: brown paper bag, marker, glue stick

The Process:
Play a hand clapping game to begin or sing 'If You're Happy And You Know It (Clap Your Hands)' if you can't think of any. 'Pat-A-Cake' is also a wonderful game for your preschooler. Teo and I sang 'If You're Happy And You Know It' by Super Simple Songs.

download a copy for yourself here

Talk about what hands can do. Let your child demonstrate what he can do like clapping and shaking or picking up things. You can also try describing how hands do things; gently, carefully or slowly. And what they can do; helping, comforting and encouraging (thumbs up sign!)

While tracing Teo's hands, I told him how his hands helped Tatay (Dad) sweep the front yard. 'Helpful hands!' And that he is now able to use his spoon and fork while eating. I told him that he amazes me because he can do so many things now.

Teos hands were a bit wiggly. I guess he felt ticklish and he would move his fingers about. You could hold your child's hand firmly, but gently so his fingers won't wiggle.

At this point, we moved on to another activity so that I could cut out the traced hands in peace!

I invited Teo to work on play dough for a moment and he willingly obliged. After all, its play dough.

After cutting, I invited him back to the activity. This time, to glue the hand on a piece of colored paper. You may choose any color. We recalled the things we talked about earlier. Teo does not like to be quizzed, like some children I have worked with before. So I just said "Teo's hand can help." And he named all the other things we talked about.

Even during my days as a preschool classroom teacher, I preferred to use glue sticks over any other kind of glue. Its easier for toddlers and preschoolers to manipulate. 

After, I wrote his name on top of the page with a marker. This is one way to show your child the letters of his name; and model writing as well. I will soon post about learning the letters of my name. I also wrote 'My hands.' at the bottom part. 

And that's it! I hope you'll have as much fun as we did. 

Here are more ideas you could do for the theme 'HANDS'

FINGER PAINTING - Your child can use their hands (and elbows) to paint too! This activity is messy, you may want to prepare ahead for this one. You can use the paint to make hand prints as well.

PLAY DOUGH - I use this recipe to make our own batch. You can download some play dough mats here. While you play with your child, you can label all the things your child's hands are doing like squishing, pounding, rolling, pinching and patting. This activity will help strengthen your child's finger muscles 9 fine motor development)