One year with the kids I decided to do a project every month to track their growth. It was back when I had only 3 kids. Since then, I’ve updated a few with my daughter’s prints, and gotten rid of some. The picture for May was based on the well-known phrase “April showers bring May flowers.” So, using my children’s handprints, we made flowers for May.

To do this we used a 10” by 10” wood panel from Walmart and painted it using acrylic paint. I used white paint as the base so the colors would pop, and I let my kids pick the colors they wanted to use for their handprints. For my older children, I had them make a full circle with their handprints, and then I picked a color to fill the middle with using a paintbrush. The reason I did this for my older kids and not my younger two is because, if you haven’t done a handprint project with small kids, it is not usually easy to get their handprint where you want it to go. So, my son and my youngest daughter each did one handprint from each hand to make their flowers. The last step in making this project with the kids was to use a paintbrush to paint the stems and grass with green paint.

The kids and I have created so many fun memories doing the monthly growth paintings, and we learned many valuable lessons. One is to make sure you follow your kids when they go to wash their hands or else you may end up with a very colorful bathroom; because, somehow, they manage to get colors in places you would never imagine. If you are ever considering doing similar projects with your kids, or kids you have the privilege of having in your life, I highly recommend it. These projects were great for bonding, and when I had them hung up they would constantly talk about them with the biggest smiles on their faces.