# Patriotic Peacock Handprint
> Paint a child's hand in the saffron, white and green of the Indian flag and press it down with fingers spread to make a tri-color peacock, India's national bird. It's an easy way to talk about the flag's colors around India's Independence Day.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/patriotic-peacock-indias-national-bird/
- Ages: 2–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: high
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 20 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class
- Skills: flags, colors, cultural-awareness, sensory-exploration
- Cautions: ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- Saffron or deep orange paint
- White paint
- Green paint
- Navy blue paint (optional)
- 1 sheet Canvas panel or heavy paper
- Paintbrushes
- 1 piece Paper plates or palette for paint (household)
- Wipes, paper towels and water (household)

## Safety
- Paint goes directly on skin, so use washable, non-toxic kids' paint. The post doesn't name a paint.
- Supervise closely so painted hands stay away from mouths and eyes, especially with toddlers.
- Wash hands right after printing.

## Before you start
- Set out saffron (or deep orange), white and green paint, plus brushes and a canvas or sheet of heavy paper for each child.

## Steps
1. Talk about the Indian flag and its three colors: saffron on top, white in the middle and green at the bottom.
2. Paint the child's fingers and top of the palm saffron or deep orange.
3. Paint a white stripe across the middle of the palm.
4. Paint the bottom of the palm green.
5. Press the painted hand onto the canvas with fingers spread wide, like open peacock feathers.
6. Wash the paint off the hand.
7. Paint a small blue wheel in the white band, then add dots around the feathers, a head with a crest, and legs to finish the peacock.
8. Let the painting dry.

## Tips
- Yeah, they may end up looking more like turkeys. That's part of the fun!
- Get a true saffron if you can. We used deep orange, but the flag's color is actually saffron.
- Older kids may want their own colors. Ours wasn't happy with the colors I set out, but when she saw her little sister make a tri-color peacock, she HAD to join in.
- The little one was more than willing to do a flag handprint, even before we turned it into a peacock.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2012)

Yeah I know, they look more like turkeys. Well, my intention was to teach Big A about the Indian flag, its colors and what it means to be a independent country although the latter might have been a wee bit overboard. Anyways, it did not go as per plan. Baby A was more than willing to do a flag handprint. Here is the little one’s tiny tri-color hand



Here is Big A’s.



While talking to her about the flag, we tried to create a tri-color peacock – India’s national bird. Big A decided that she wanted different colors for her flag and she was not happy with the colors I set out for her! She wanted to make a peacock with her own colors. Finally, when she saw Baby A make a tri color peacock, she HAD to join in. Here is what it turned out to be. By the way, top color is deep orange. I should get a better orange (actually flag's color is saffron) soon.



Jai Hind! If you end up trying one of those handprint tri-color peacocks with open feathers, please comment and post your link here or on the facebook page. Thanks for reading and happy sharing. Shared on Artsy Craftsy Mom