Hands-full-of-Sunflower
This project incorporates a special "signature" from each child -- their individual hand print shapes. Not only are the little hands in the craft cute, but using a special item that reflects each child's personally fosters self-esteem and sparks a sense of ownership.

They can see themselves clearly reflected in the craft. This large sunflower "reaches" to the sun and has real sunflower seeds on its face, an extra tactile dimension to the creation.
Needed:
Paper plate
Paper towel tube
Paint brush
Glue
Stapler
Sunflower seeds
Eight cutouts of child's closed hand print
Two green construction paper leaves
Green tempera paint

STEP 1 Paint paper towel tube with green paint. Let the tube dry.
STEP 2 Staple the eight hands around the lip of the paper plate.
STEP 3 Place glue in the center of the plate and pour sunflower seeds on top. Discard the ones that did not stick... and eat them! It's also fun to scatter different things for "seeds" into the center of the flower -- buttons, sparkle beads, pebbles, dried beans, peanut shells.
FINALE Staple the painted tube to the back side of the paper plate. Glue the two leaves to the green "stem" of the flower. PROJECT CHALLENGES The main challenge with this craft is the stapling part. When stapling the tube to the plate, you may wish to staple one end of the tube shut first and then staple the plate to the tube. A heavy duty stapler will work best for this, however, the handheld one will work with a few tries.

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