Tutorial for a Handprint Hen
Create this Chicken with Paper Plates and Handprints
Use common household supplies to make this whimsical Handprint Hen.
This charming hen is super easy and super fast to make. In addition, she uses common household items, making her an ideal craft project for when you are short on supplies.
Age Recommendation
3 years and older (assistance is necessary with little ones who can’t use scissors or whose hands get tired)
Supplies
- 2 plain white paper plates
- 2 jumbo google eyes
- 1 sheet red construction paper
- 1 sheet yellow construction paper
- 1 sheet white construction paper
- adhesive
- scissors
Instructions
- Trace one handprint on red construction paper.
- Trace two handprints on yellow construction paper.
- Trace two handprints on white construction paper.
- Cut the handprints out.
- Glue the red handprint to the top backside of the plate with enough poking above the top to make a good comb.
- Glue the yellow handprints to the bottom backside of the plate with enough poking out the bottom to make a nice pair of feet.
- Glue the white handprints on the front of the plate as her wings.
- Adhere two google eyes to the hen’s face.
- Fold a scrap of yellow construction paper in half. Cut a triangle on the fold.
- Unfold the triangle so that it is a diamond. This will be the hen’s open beak.
- Glue the beak to the hen’s face.
- Glue the second plate to the back of the first plate. This will help support the comb and feet and prevent them from falling off.
Your hen is done.
About the Sample Project
This craft project took less than ten minutes to make.
Ideas and Suggestions
If you would like bigger wings for the chicken, make four to six handprints and layer them for a more ruffled feather look.
If you would rather that your chicken be a rooster, cut a heart with a blunt tip and hang it upside down below his beak.
Use your hen to tell the story of The Little Red Hen. Perhaps glue a stalk of wheat between her wings to signify the story. Color or paint the plate red and use red handprints for wings
Use your hen to accompany the rhyme Hickety Pickety my Black Hen. Color or paint the plate red and use black handprints for the wings. Here are the rods for the rhyme: Hickety pickety, my black hen, / She lay's eggs for gentlemen; / Sometimes nine, sometimes ten, / Hickety pickety, my black hen.
Use the hen to illustrate the story of Chicken Little. Perhaps glue and acorn between her wings to signify the story.
For instructions about how to make hatching baby chicks read How to Make Adorable Spring Chicks.
