My Own Two Hands Holiday Wreath

This craft is one of my mother's favorites. It uses a tracing of your child's hands to make a cute wreath! I've seen variations of this craft for an advent wreath, but I wouldn't recommend actually lighting any candles around it since it is made with paper. As a matter of fact, I strongly urge that if you make an advent wreath from this cute little craft, please let it just be for showsies, and your real advent wreath made with WELL WATERED greens.

You can begin this craft a couple of ways. I chose to trace Jonah's hands on a piece of scratch paper and cut them out to use as a pattern. Your child can trace around their own hands if they have the coordination. You could also trace the hands straight onto the colored paper, several times. The reason I made the pattern from scratch paper rather than tracing his hands several times is because he is a little too squirmy. It was hard enough tracing each hand just once!

Once I got the hands cut out from my green cardstock, I traced a ring, using a plate, on some 12X12 brown cardstock, and cut it out. Using a hole punch, I punched a hole in the ring and tied a loop of red yarn. The yarn will be to hang the wreath.

Then Jonah used glue to position his hands on the ring, with the fingers pointing outward.It did take a little guidance from me.

He ripped up some red tissue paper (that I had leftover from a gift from last year) 

We pasted the small bits around the wreath for "berries."It helps it look a little more like holly berries if you kind of crunch the bits of paper up before gluing them.

If your child is older, they can cut out holly leaves to put on their wreath, and add a bow. I decided to leave these items off because I didn't want it to be too "mommy influenced." It is his craft, afterall!

If you make it with quality paper, this is a cute gift to give to grandparents, or to display with your other decorations. Jonah is so proud of all the decorations he's helped me make this year. After we hung this wreath in the living room, he has been walking past it, pointing, and saying "My hands!" This is the first time that he's used a possessive pronoun such as "my" or "mine" so it makes me proud too!