Make Father’s Day extra special this year with this cute “these hands hold my Daddy’s heart” craft! This adorable keepsake craft only requires a few simple supplies and features your child’s handprints, making this cute personalized gift one that will be cherished for years to come.
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Looking for a customized gift that won’t take a ton of time or effort to make? This adorable keepsake craft is the perfect way to make Father’s Day extra special and show Dad how much he is appreciated.
You’ll only need a few simple supplies to make this easy craft using your child’s handprints, and you can use the included free template to speed up the process. My kids loved helping me make this craft!
Why You’ll Love This Craft
- Cute and customizable: This craft is made by tracing your child’s handprints and can easily be customized by changing the color of the paper or adding unique details to the handprints.
- Simple supplies: This project only requires basic supplies that you probably already have at home, like paper, scissors and glue. This makes it a great last-minute craft idea that won’t require a run to the store.
- Easy to make: All you’ll need to do in order to make this craft is trace, cut and assemble the different shapes—no need to be crafty or creative!
- Free template included: This craft includes a free template that you can print out in order to make the process a little easier. Make sure you grab it below and download it to your computer.
Looking for more cute Father’s Day ideas that feature handprints and footprints? Check out this Free “Hands Down Best Dad” Template or this big list of Father’s Day Handprint & Footprint Crafts.
Required Materials
- Cardstock: You’ll need a sheet of white or light-colored cardstock for the background (I used beige cardstock) and a sheet of red or pink cardstock for the heart (mine were from this set of colored cardstock). If you don’t have cardstock, you can use construction paper, but it won’t be as sturdy. I am personally a huge fan of using cardstock for crafts.
- Construction paper: Since this will be used for the hands, beige or brown is ideal. Those shades aren’t always included, but I bought a set of multicultural skin tone construction paper for crafts and used a paper trimmer to cut the sheets in half. Consider matching the color you use to your child’s skin tone for a personalized touch.
- Pencil: You’ll be using this to trace around your child’s hands. A pen or marker can work too.
- Scissors: Metal scissors will work best for this craft, not plastic safety scissors.
- Glue: I recommend using a glue stick for this project because it dries more quickly and won’t make the paper wavy. If you don’t have one, you can use a small amount of liquid school glue instead, but take care not to add too much.
The full supply list and instructions can be found in the how-to card.
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How to Make a Heart & Hand Craft (Step-by-Step)
Step 1: Trace hand. Press your child’s hand onto a sheet of beige or brown construction paper and trace around their fingers with a pencil. (You can also use a pen or marker if the lines aren’t dark enough.)
Step 2: Cut shapes. Print page 2 of the template on pink or red cardstock. Then, use scissors to cut out the heart from the template as well as the hands you traced during step 1, rounding off the bottom of the handprints as you cut.
Tips for Creating Paper Handprints
To create nice handprints for this craft, have your child place their hand on the bottom edge of the construction paper and use your fingers to gently press down on each finger to hold it in place as you trace around it.
Tracing can be done using a pencil, pen or marker—consider switching to a marker if you are finding that pencil lines are difficult to see.
When cutting around the handprint you traced, loosely follow the lines with your scissors and smooth out any imperfect areas while cutting. When you have finished cutting around the fingers, use your scissor of round off the bottom of the handprint.
Step 3: Glue heart. Print page 2 of the template on white or light-colored cardstock, then cover the back of the heart with glue and press it against the sheet of cardstock.
Step 4: Glue hands. Cover the hands with glue and press them onto either side of the heart, partially covering it. (It’s fine for the tip of some fingers go over the edge of the cardstock, but you may want to avoid this if you are planning on framing the craft.)
This craft turned out even cuter than I thought it would! The fact that it incorporates children’s handprints makes it extra special, and my kids really enjoyed helping me with that part.
Helpful Tips
- Hide the lines: To make the craft look nice and clean, I spread the glue on the side of the hands and heart that had lines, then pressed it down onto the template so that the lines were no longer visible.
- Smooth out the handprints: The lines that you trace around your child’s hands may look a bit shaky. This is not an issue, since you can simply smooth out the lines as you are cutting. (If needed, you can also draw smoother lines on top of the existing ones before cutting.)
- Customize it further: I kept this project pretty basic, but you don’t have to! Try swapping out the color of the heart, adding rings or nail polish to the hands (glitter nails would look super cute!), or adding your own little message or poem to the craft.
More Easy Crafts for Dad (or Grandpa)
If you have tried this Father’s Day Heart & Hand Craft or any other project on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you!
These Hands Hold My Daddy’s Heart
Materials
- free craft template (request it by filling out the form below this printable how-to card)
- 1 sheet white or light-colored cardstock
- 1 sheet red or pink cardstock (or construction paper)
- 1 sheet skin-colored construction paper
- 1 pencil, pen or marker
- 1 pair scissors
- 1 glue stick
Instructions
- Press your child’s hand onto a sheet of beige or brown construction paper and trace around their fingers with a pencil, pen or marker.
- Print page 2 of the template on pink or red cardstock. Then, use scissors to cut out the heart as well as the hands you traced, rounding off the bottom of the handprints as you cut.
- Print page 2 of the template on white or light-colored cardstock, then cover the back of the heart with glue and press it onto the sheet of cardstock. Cover the hands with glue and press them onto either side of the heart, partially covering it. (It’s fine for the tip of some fingers go over the edge of the cardstock, but you may want to avoid this if you’re planning on framing the craft.)
Video
Notes
- Hide the lines: Make the craft look cleaner by adding the glue onto the side of the shapes with the lines and facing them downward onto the template.
- Smooth out the handprints: Even out shaky lines while cutting (you can first trace smoother lines with a pencil if needed) and round out the bottom of the handprints to make them look more realistic.
- Customize the craft: Try swapping out the color of the heart, adding rings or nail polish to the hands, or writing a message or poem on the craft.
Request Your Free Template Here
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