HAND-PRINT POLAR BEARS: Fun Art Project for Kids

On my recent author visit to Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley, California, I saw a display of art projects made by the students, including these polar bears created from hand-prints. This would be a perfect project to go with reading my book A POLAR BEAR'S WORLD. 

How to make a hand-print polar bear:

1. Dip the flat of your hand into white paint that has been poured on a plate. (Alternatively, you can use brown paint to make a brown or grizzly bear.)

2. Press your hand onto a sheet of colored paper to make a print. Let the paint dry. (Be sure to wash you hand!)

3. Cut out the shape of your hand. The four fingers are the polar bear's legs. The thumb is the head and face.

4. With a black marking pen draw claws on the feet and draw eyes, ears, and nose on the face.

This project is suitable for preschool and primary school age children.

Polar Bear Coloring Page

I am starting to add downloadable coloring pages to my website, www.carolinearnold.com. Look on the page of my new book, A Polar Bear's World, for the link to a picture of a polar bear. The challenge will be to decide on colors to use for a white bear in a white landscape! Of course, there are many shades of white, with polar bears being a yellowish white and the surrounding snow being various shades of blueish white.
For more coloring pages and other projects go to A Panda's World and A Penguin's World.
You can preview A Polar Bear's World in this book trailer on YouTube.
Update, 2012:  You can also learn about polar bears and how they have been affected by global warming in my new book A Warmer World.