The month of December brings with it more than just frosty weather and short days. It also features holidays, good times with loved ones, and many lights! This year, the Jewish Festival of Lights runs from December 25, 2024, through January 2, 2025. Called Hanukkah, the eight-day holiday shines with its candlelit menorahs. A menorah is a that holds nine candles, with an candle being lit each night of Hanukkah. (The center candle is lit every night of the festival.) You don’t need real candles and fire to brighten the holidays, though. Follow these instructions to make your own handprint menorah out of paper and paint!
What You’ll Need
• Colored paper (dark blue, light blue, and white)
• A pencil with an eraser
• Scissors
• Glue or double-sided tape
• Paint (dark blue, light blue, yellow, and orange)
• Paintbrushes
• A black pen
Steps
1. To begin, you will need a white paper circle big enough to fit both of your hands inside it. To know that the circle is large enough, place one hand on the paper and use a pencil to mark where the edges of your hand fall. Then, repeat this marking process with your other hand next to the first on the paper.
2. Second, draw a circle around those marks, big enough so there will be space around your handprints. Erase the hand pencil marks after. If you need some help drawing a circle, you can trace a rounded object that is the correct shape and size, such as a bowl or a tray.
3. Cut out the circle and clean up any stray pencil marks with the eraser.
4. Place the white circle onto a sheet of dark blue paper and draw a wider circle around it to create a circle that is roughly the same shape as the white one but slightly larger. Cut out the new larger circle and, again, clean up any pencil marks with the eraser.
5. Glue or tape the dark blue circle into the center of a sheet of light blue paper. Then, glue or tape the white circle into the center of the dark blue circle. These layers are creating a festive background for your handprint menorah.
6. Now, it’s time to get a little bit messy. Fully paint the palm of one of your hands with blue paint in a shade of your choice. While the paint is still wet, press your palm onto the white circle to transfer the paint to the paper. Carefully peel your hand off to leave a painted handprint behind!
7. Repeat Step 6, putting your other palm side-by-side with the first handprint. Make sure the thumbs overlap slightly.
8. Your paint handprints may not be perfect. You can use a paintbrush and paint to fill in any gaps in the handprints. When your prints are in place, the palms make the menorah, and the fingers are the candles!
9. Use yellow paint to add a teardrop shape above each finger on your handprint, counting the overlapping thumbs as only one candle. These yellow drops are the flames on top of the candles. To add more detail to the fire, create a smaller teardrop with orange paint inside each yellow one, and when the paint is dry, use a black pen or paint marker to draw a short line connecting the top of each candle to the bottom of its flame. This line is the candle that burns in the wax.
10. Cut a rectangle out of white paper, making it about as long as the combined width of your two handprints. To make the banner look fancy, you can cut out a triangle pointing inward on each side to give the strip of paper the appearance of a ribbon.
11. Use dark blue paint to create a border or outline on the banner, and paint on the message “Happy Hanukkah!” News-O-Matic alternated between dark and light blue paint to write these words, but you could use one color or even write it with markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
12. Glue or tape your banner to the bottom of your handprint picture.
13. Decorate your light blue background with painted dots, stars, or other symbols. Watch the Video to learn how to make a six-pointed Star of David, which is a popular sign of the Jewish religion.
When you are done with your craft, give your handsome picture as a gift or put it out in your room or home as decoration. It can remind you to have a happy Hanukkah!
By Amanda Salazar
Updated December 17, 2024, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
