The Art of Skin
Project #1 – Handy Lines
First, ask your child to look closely at the lines on her hand.
Then take your hand cut-out (or make a cut-out of your child’s hand with skin-colored cardstock) and have your child draw her hand lines onto the cut-out.
Flip the cut-out over and have her draw the lines on the other side of her hand. Tape this onto the project that you have made for Activity #2.
Why we like it: This activity is a good opportunity for children to study their skin up close, as well as being a nifty drawing exercise. And those hand lines (called flexion creases) actually have a purpose! Learn all about it at Science ABC.com.
Project #2: Mini Puppets
We really liked an idea we found on Pinterest; using paint cards to teach children about different shades of skin. We took it a bit farther and made puppets.
Cate used one paint card, a 1″ circle punch, glue, mini craft sticks, 8mm googly eyes, and colored pencils for this project.
After punching out the heads, she drew on hair and mouths, then glued on the eyes and craft sticks.
We made a little home for them out of a decorated Altoids container.
Cate also liked seeing which shade matched her skin
.
Why we like it: The paint card teaches that everyone’s skin is just a different shade of the same color! This project is easy and enjoyable enough for a small child, and it turns out pretty cute. We also like to think that the puppets co-exist peacefully in the one container that we made for them.
You can read a kid-friendly explanation of skin pigment here.
Use these ideas along with Lesson #10 in About Me!