Fun with Fingerprints and Inky Fingers!

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I guess it all depends on how messy you want to get... my son is almost 3; he doesn't attend daycare and we are "casual types"... so I need not care that his fingers are inky or even if her decides to draw on his face. It'll wash off eventually! Most of the time he is pretty careful with art supplies. Anderson is a bit of a neat-nik... unlike his Mom.

I remember making fingerprint art' specifically bugs in Girlscouts. And let me tell you; now as I write this I am reminded of several things, all learned from the Girlscouts, that I have incorporated into my parenting arsenal. Thanks Juliette Low... you rock and then some.

Ok... so for this project you probably have everything you really need; paper, non-toxic ink pads and a child. I suppose you don't even really need the child...

Depending on the age of the kid you are working with you can adapt this activity to suit your needs. As I said, my son is almost three; so he is at the stage where his art is very "free-form" and his proportion is always way off... people are just huge open circles with speck eyes and teeny legs; arms are always optional. I really wanted to have an impressive outcome for this activity (not that stick arms aren't impressive; I mean I am totally impressed) so I opted to have him make the fingerprints and I would complete his designs with my doodles... this would be a collaborative effort!

I actually inked up and held Andy's fingers for this project; figuring that if I let him "go-to-town" he may come out with more smears than fingerprints (later tests proved this to be correct). One finger at a time we selected colors, and I pressed his tiny fingers onto the paper. it was a bonus opportunity to discuss colors, count fingers and fingerprints, and learn the difference between our pinkies and thumbs! He loved the messiness of his hands afterwards. I opted to use Stampin' Up! Classic Ink for this project... and it did stain... but by the end of the next day and several hand washings it was mostly gone. Later I will share with you another product I found and tested that I would recommend if you require LESS mess.


We ended up with a piece of paper filled with unique splotches and prints. To make easy work I just used my different paper punches to pop out the best of the best... I guess this would also be a tip; if you are working with a young child, don't have him/her stamp directly on the card or whatever you are creating... incorporate a punched shape into the design of the final project so you can choose the best prints for use.

After selecting my favorites I doodled them into little ladybugs, inchworms and butterflies! Andy thought the whole process was very cool... he loved watching his splotches transform into something he could recognize. I then made the punched bugs into simple cards for family; and we can say we made them together! Of course an older child could do the doodling themselves! The possibilities for designs are endless!

With a few simple doodles these fingerprints turned into ladybugs!

And these turned into an inchworm!

This book; Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book is adorable! it contains easy to follow instructions for simple images created from fingerprints. Everything from bugs to pirates and cowboys on horses! I would say this book would be appropriate for ages 6 and up... a younger child would need some extra help. I found the doodles in this book to be so compelling and sweet I may try some on my own personal projects! (Buying the book via this link above will also help support Craft Critique!)

Visit Ed Emberley's Website for more fun projects!

I also purchased this ink pad for Andy, from Lakeshore (for next time). I think it may actually work better to achieve a more "fingerprinty" looking fingerprint. The prints Andy and I made for this project really saturated the paper. I don't think most people would realize these were Andy's fingerprints unless I told them. I tested the ink pad and the ink in this pad is very easy to wash off; and the pad even comes with a "finger cleaning sponge".

I hope you try this project with your kids! Let us know if you do; and we'd love to see some more samples!