Our local school gets out early on Wednesdays, so I have school age programs every Wednesday! Fourth Wednesdays are art, so we did thumbprint art modeled on Ed Emberley’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. The book gives instructions for how to turn thumbprints into animals, people, flowers, and more by drawing on them with a marker or pen.

Program Rundown: Early Out Art – Thumbprint Drawing

• Cost (not including existing supplies): $30 for 12 new stamp pads, which I will re-use for other art programs and storytime hand stamps. I already had paper. 
• Age: Advertised for grades K-5, I had that whole age range plus a younger sibling or two
• Length: 45 minutes
• Attendance: 17

I had unexpectedly had 30 kids come the previous week, so I had some warning to be prepared for a big crowd this time. It’s especially important to be ready when you’re encouraging everyone to cover their fingers in ink. I had visions of destroyed stamp pads and ink-covered books and tables but it was actually pretty under control!

The key steps to making sure this program isn’t a chaotic mess:

• GIVE EVERYONE A HAND WIPE IMMEDIATELY. Have extras. Occasionally check to make sure everyone still has one. Before starting anything, insist that they wipe their fingers immediately after making a print.
• Cover the tables! Of course.
• Have all supplies on the tables, and try to have at least one stamp pad for every two kids. I found the previous week that having to hand things out individually left too much time for kids to get restless and impatient. The art supply caddies that I just scored at Target for $1 each really helped with this.
• Start with one easy demonstration to get everyone on the same page.
• Photocopy the pages so that everyone has something to look at if they want, and your books don’t get covered in ink.

I aimed to encourage creativity while still giving enough instructions for kids who aren’t confident at drawing to create something they were happy with. This balance is something I really like about Emberley’s drawing books.

The game plan:

1. Go over the guidelines and introduce the project. Really the only rule was that they had to wipe their fingers before touching anything but paper.
2. Show them the instructions for making a thumbprint fish and demonstrate while everyone tries it.
3. Let them create whatever they want! I printed out instructions for a thumbprint person, owl and cat from Ed Emberley’s website, and photocopied a bunch of pages of the book for inspiration.

I told them that they could follow the pictures if they wanted, or they could make up their own, or just make paintings with their fingers and the stamp pads. Anything goes. I saw a range, from full page abstract tie dye-looking art to studious replicas of the instructions.

I had a lot of fun with this program! It really worked for the whole range of ages present, and they were really engrossed and proud of their work. Plus, it was book-inspired, easy to prep, and pretty cheap if you have access to a bunch of stamp pads.