Ocean Craft for Kids: Hand Print Dolphin

The idea to read a couple of stories about dolphins all began when we were browsing another store that I love, Marshalls.  While walking through the kitchen/ gourmet food aisle, I happened to spot a package of "Dolphin Cookies"-- it was simply a sugar cookie mix with a dolphin cookie cutter.  Sadly, we didn't end up with dolphin cookies; we must have over mixed the dough because it ended up being super sticky.  Although our dolphin cookies were a bust, we ended up adding chocolate chips and white chocolate chips to the mix and the cookies were delicious! 

Since our dolphin cookies were a bust, I came up with another idea for our craft.  I picked up the book "Hand Print Animal Art" by Carolyn Carreiro and Big Brother made a hand print dolphin.  Just a note, if you love hand print art this book is for you!!  It is chock full of all kinds of animals to make with your sweet little ones tiny hands.  Who knew?! 

To make the dolphin begin by painting your child's palm and four fingers gray (leaving out the thumb) and have him/ her make a hand print on the paper. 

Have child dip his/her pointer finger back into the paint to add the dorsal (top) fin, flipper, flukes (tail fin), and beak.

If your child would like, have him/ her create "bubbles" by using pointer finger dipped in blue paint.

Let the paint dry and draw the outline of the dolphin with black marker.  I messed up the dolphin's tail a bit, oops!  

Can you see the hand print?  I think it's a bit hard to tell with our metallic paint.  

For another activity, I used the book "If a Dolphin Were a Fish."  The book compares Delfina the dolphin to many other types of animals and tells why Delfina is not a fish, turtle, shark, etc.  It is an easy to read story with creative graphics to show the uniqueness of each animal's characteristics/ adaptations.

I came up with four other animals that Delfina is not and had Big Brother complete the sentence, "If Delfina were a _________, she would __________."  Big Brother filled in the blanks with: 

If Delfina were a pig, she would roll in the mud. 

If Delfina were a butterfly, she would fly.

If Delfina were a elephant, she would make noises with her trunk.

If Delfina were a tiger, she would roar.

Hope you enjoyed our Storytime & Craft!  I am thinking we'll do a few more and then it's time to get back to rowing!!

I'd love for you to follow along so you never miss out on one of our fun activities we share at School Time Snippets!