DIY Children's Hand Dish

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

Children's handprints are such a lovely way to capture the littleness of childhood. As a mom, I save all of the construction paper tracing and funny animal crafts that come home using my children's hands. I just love them!

When my friend Jeran, posted these fabulous photo holders made from air dry clay, I immediately thought of my children's handprints! I wanted to create with these small shapes in such an easy medium. And then the usability of a small dish evolved as we were playing with the flexibility of air dry clay.

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

I purchased Crayola's tub of clay to give it a roll. First we took about a baseball-sized ball of clay. It's softer than potter's clay and easy to manipulate. Using a rolling pin, we flattened the clay and traced out L's hand with a pencil on the clay.

He removed his hand, and I carefully pulled away the excess clay. If you're trying this, make sure that you have clay rolled out to about 1/4 inch in thickness. Too flat makes the hand plate too flimsy and too think makes the fingers hard to move. Using a spatula, I lifted the palm and fingers to allow them to dry on an armature for shaping.

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I'm all for working what you have so I grabbed some unused measuring spoons to prop the clay into the bowl-like shape I wanted. Follow the instructions on the container to make sure that it's dried completely before you move it. You'll notice that it turns more bright white as it dries.

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My children loved seeing their hands as art! And they thoroughly enjoyed making an object they knew their teachers and grandmothers would use on their desks or dressers.

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

A sweet, homemade gift for mothers and teachers! Make this one with your child from air dry clay.

Have you worked with air dry clay? You should give it a whirl if you haven't yet!

xoxo, MJ