Fun Fingerprint Magnets
Last Updated on May 16, 2018 by lydiaf1963
I was looking for a craft to do with my grandsons and as often happens, fingerprint magnets showed up on my Facebook feed. All you need are a few simple supplies and your imagination.
This turned out to be a collaborative effort, making this a great family craft. At 3 years old, P had a great time dipping his fingers into the stamp pads and leaving his mark on the paper. My daughter transformed the thumbprints into animals with a marker, and I assembled the pieces into the final product.
What you’ll need to make your own fingerprint magnets:
I’m including links to help you assemble the supplies for convenience, but I was able to find everything I needed between the two national craft stores available in our area, although Amazon is cheaper for some items.
- stamp pads (I bought kid appropriate pads in four colors…green and blue were particular favorites)
- heavy paper (I tore sheets out of a drawing pad)
- large clear flat bottomed glass gems (about 1 1/2″ in diameter)
- fine tipped markers; permanent markers are good for this as the ink may bleed a little when the glue is applied
- clear glue or decoupage medium
- brush to apply the glue
- round magnets (about 3/4″ in diameter)
How to make fingerprint magnets
- Search the internet or Pinterest for fingerprint art ideas. The link I mentioned above is a good place to start, she has a good video tutorial, too. You’ll want to keep your designs small enough to fit under the glass gems.
- Stamp your fingerprints onto the paper and use the markers to add details.
- Apply the a thin coat of glue to the flat part of the clear glass gem and place it over the design. When it’s dry, use scissors to carefully cut around the gem. Trim the paper close to the bottoms.
- Apply more glue to the back of the paper on the bottom and stick the magnet into place. Let dry again. Our magnets were pretty strong and tended to attract each other. We placed them a couple inches apart while they were drying.
My favorites were the monsters, P liked the fishies, and my daughter had a blast turning his enthusiastic marks into various animals.
The youngest grandchild isn’t ready for this type of craft yet, but boy did he have fun making the magnets stick together. Even better, once he figured out they can repulse each other too, he pushed them along. The two of them stacked the magnets on top of each other and made magnet sandwiches before arranging the whole lot on the front of the refrigerator. I was worried they’d pull the magnets off the back but the glue held fine.
While I’m home, I’d like to do more crafty things with the boys. If you have any suggestions for projects appropriate for the 2 – 5 year old crowd let me know in the comments. You can drop a link if you like.
