Handprint Alphabet – H is for Hippopotamus

The Handprint Alphabet continues and this week we come to H. H prooved a little of a conundrum – H for House? H for Hare (but surely a child will always “see” a Bunny or Rabbit making it confusing)? H for Hand (haha that would have been a nice cheat, if a little boring). H for…. Hippopotamus! Red Ted shouts!!! Hippo it is! Handprint Hippos. Right… How do you do one of those!

Well.. we focussed on characteristics – chubby body and head, chubby legs, big mouth with big teeth. A wee tail.

So.. to make the hippo we used the same hand twice – first we painted the head and then the body. For the head, you could also use the SIDE of your hand. Your choice:

Print the head. Then paint the rest of the palm, plus the first “section” of each finger. Leave the thumb paint free.

Do the print at a right angle to the head.

Then add funky foam teeth, googly eyes and details!

Red Ted ‘s Hippos. I love the little curly tail and the tiny nostrils as well as toe nails.

Check out the special long teeth on this one.

At first Pip Squeak said she didn’t want to do any drawing, so I did it. Then she changed her mind. I felt “bad” for haing done her toe nails, tail and nostrils (esp as on the second one the nostrils would have looked good further down). Still. She added her own stamp with “more legs” and “bigger tails”.

Aaaaah!

Did I mention that on each one we later write the animal’s name? and that Red Ted has a go at writing each and every letter? I am so impressed with his enthusiasm aged 4!

We are soooo enjoying this Handprint series!

Check out:

Handprint Art A,  Handprint Art B,  Handprint Art C, Handprint D, Handprint F , Handprint G