Children and adults, too, can learn American Sign Language while 
creating fun and endearing gifts for parents and grandparents.

1.  Create a clay sign of your age or a simple word or expression from
air dry clay using the simple basic sign language alphabet found on
the links below.

2.  Trace your hand onto a double layer of brown paper or brown
wrapping paper.  You can make one or two sets, using the right
hand, left hand or both.  Glue the sides and fingers together and
stuff lightly with cotton or shredded paper towel.  Glue sides
and fingers and form hand into a number or word sign.  

3.  Make an articulated hand from sturdy construction paper to use
as an aid to learning sign language.  Trace your hand onto a
sheet of paper.  Young children will want to ask an adult with
a larger hand to trace their hand onto a sheet of paper.  Draw
a line at the end of each finger and thumb on your paper hand.
Draw a line at the wrist on your paper hand.  Draw a line in the
center of each finger and thumb on your paper hand.  Now cut
the outline of the hand and cut through all lines that you have
drawn and reattach with a brad or string.  Now you have got a 
hand that can move easily.

Here are some other hand projects 

1.  Make a handwreath using hands dipped in paint or traced and cut
with construction paper and arranged in a circle.
2.  A great reindeer-A hand dipped in brown paint makes the anteliers,
a traced and then painted shoeprint or a foot dipped in paint makes
the face.
3.  Hands traced onto cardboard with a nice little letter or I Love 
You make a great greeting card stuffer.
4.  Don't forget hand and thumprint postcards and greeting cards.
5.  Handprint T Shirts are always in style.
6.  For a Creepy Hand-Thin plastic gloves purchased at beauty supply
stores can easily be filled with popcorn tied at the end with raffia,
and painted with red tempera fingernails.

A great multicultural project-

Use crayons to create a crayon resist body painting, by first
tracing the child's hand and arm.  Tell a story through African
symobls, and then paint the drawing in black watercolor tempera.
Alternative-Australian Aborigines Symbols-Another body painting
culture and corresponding paint.

A Parent and Me Hand Sampler

Trace each hand onto cloth.  Cut, and Glue to Construction Paper.  Draw in
Chalk or Paint Faux Stitches around the Connecting Hands.

Just for Fun

Trace your hand onto a sheet of paper.  Design a special ring for
a special occasion.  Or imagine that you are a King or Queen of 
an Ancient Empire, what would your rings or bracelets look like?

Another fun project

Make a shadow puppet with your hand by putting your hand in front
of a bright light and exploring the different characters that can
be created by the shadow that it casts on the wall.  Ask a friend
to put a sheet of paper on the wall and draw the image.  Now
draw it again and change it for some imaginative, inspired fun
characters.

A Neat Thanksgiving Turkey

Dip your hand into orange or brown paint.  Apply it to a sheet of
paper.  Next paint each finger a different color and apply it to the
orange or brown handprint-the fingers are the feathers.  Now dip
the side of your hand into brown paint-that's the head and body.
Your finger tips dipped in paint will finish off the feet.

Resources for the Hearing Impaired & A Easy To Understand Sign Language Chart

Got Any Other Ideas? Send Them (Please),

artwork@pacbell.net
To Art Teacher on the Net