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Fingerprint art is practically a childhood rite of passage. Indeed, I first created fingerprint art with my kids back when they were in preschool. We used red ink and a black marker to make fingerprint ladybugs.
Since it has been a few years since we last did fingerprint art, I thought we’d give it another try. This time, I didn’t want to limit them to just creating ladybugs. Instead, we decided to create all manner of fingerprint animals based on my kids’ creative imaginations.
Note: For more awesome art projects, see my arts and crafts for kids page.
To make fingerprint animals, you will need the following materials:
- Paper or cardstock
- Stamp pads in a variety of colors (like this Melissa & Doug multi-colored stamp pad)
- Fine tip markers (we like these Sharpies)
I asked my kids to draw a line across their paper to get started. The purpose was to provide some sort of anchor for the foreground and background.
Once our lines were drawn, I encouraged my kids to start adding fingerprints to their papers.
After making fingerprints, I had my kids thoroughly wash the ink from their fingers.
Then we looked at some examples of fingerprint animals to get inspired.
Finally, I handed them some markers and invited them to turn their fingerprints into animals.
Here’s a look at how some of our fingerprint animal projects turned out!
If you want to take your fingerprint artwork to the next level, below are a few books I recommend to really up your game.
Ed Emberley’s Complete Funprint Drawing Book by Ed Emberley
Fingerprint & Draw: Animals & Insects by Maite Balart
Fingerprint Activities Under the Sea by Fiona Watt
Happy creating!
More arts and crafts resources
Popular arts and crafts activities from Gift of Curiosity:
- Watercolor on paper towels
- Blow art monsters
- Painting with strings
- Leaf collages
- Tape resist watercolor painting
- Crystallized snowflakes
- Seed medallions
- Trace the shapes art project
For more kid-friendly craft projects, see my Arts and Crafts for Kids page and my Arts and Crafts Pinterest board.
