100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 41: Handprint Mold

This past February, we made handprint molds of Oliver's hands. We sent one to Aunt Julie for a Valentine's Day gift.

While struggling to come up with an activity today, I decided to try handprint molds again. Last time, he was too little to do much with the molds. I wondered if it would be more fun for him this time. Here's what we made back in February:

There were a few recipes I found online. Here's the one I ended up using this time:

2 cups flour
3/4 cup salt
1 cup water, plus more as needed
food coloring (optional)

1. Mix the flour and salt together. Set aside.

2. Dissolve food coloring in water (I used 5 drops of green and got a very light, pale green).

3. Mix colored water into the flour mixture. Add more water as needed to achieve a dough consistency.

Once we had our dough, I let Oliver play with half as I smoothed the other half out by rolling it into a ball on the table. I rolled it out and helped Oliver smash his hand into it. Our first try wasn't a success because I didn't smash his hand firmly enough. We ended up doing three attempts. By the end, Oliver knew the routine, and he enjoyed rolling out his half of the dough and mashing his hands into it, creating a mosaic of handprints.


I used an upside-down bowl to cut out a circle shape on the one I wanted to keep. Then, I used a chopstick to create a hole on top for a ribbon later. Using a dead pen, I wrote Oliver's name and the year. The recipe says you can just let the print dry for 24 hours. I put ours in a 200 degree (Fahrenheit) oven for 30 minutes to get it set. I'll let it continue to set for 24 hours so I don't mess it up.

This ended up being a lot of fun for Oliver. I don't know if he realized we were actually making something, but he enjoyed the process of mixing and rolling it out. He definitely had a good time. I liked creating a keepsake, and I plan on mailing the finished product to Andrew's grandma (Oliver's great-grandmother). All in all, it was a lot of fun for both of us. I give this activity an A!