Handprints in concrete.
Wet concrete keeps a handprint for as long as the slab lasts. It takes about a minute, some clean water and good timing. A stamp can't make the handprints, but it can set the names and date beside them.
By the Stamped Sidewalks shop. Updated Oct 31, 2026.
Design a stampWhen do you put handprints in concrete?
Once the bleed water is gone and the surface will hold a print, typically 30 to 90 minutes after finishing.
Use the thumb test near the spot you've chosen. Press your thumb in: if it leaves a clean 1/4-inch print without pulling up paste, the concrete is ready. Test again every 10 to 15 minutes until it is.
Heat moves the window. On a hot, sunny day it can shrink to 20 to 30 minutes, so have the kids ready before the finishing ends. On a cool, overcast day it can stretch to 2 to 4 hours.
Is it safe for kids to put their hands in wet concrete?
Only briefly, and with clean water ready. Wet concrete is caustic and can burn skin.
Keep contact to a few seconds. Set a bucket of clean water beside the slab before anyone starts, and rinse each hand right away, between the fingers too. Keep hands away from eyes and mouths until they're rinsed.
If skin stays red or sore afterward, get medical advice.
How do you get a clean handprint?
Spread the fingers, press straight down with even weight, and lift straight up without rolling.
Rocking the hand or peeling it away from one side smears the print, the same way it smears a stamp. Practice the motion on a scrap of cardboard first, so nobody is learning it over wet concrete.
Do the youngest child first. They have the shortest patience, and the concrete keeps firming while everyone waits.
How do you add names and the date beside them?
By hand with a stick, with a letter kit, or with a custom stamp ordered ahead. Order at least 4 weeks before your pour, or 3 with express shipping.
Press the stamp first, because the hands fit around it. A stamp needs its full footprint of flat surface, and a handprint doesn't. Mark where each will go before the pour.
See family name stampsCan you do handprints in a broom-finished driveway?
Yes. Broom the surface first, then press into the broomed concrete.
Pick a corner out of the tire paths and within reach of a form edge, so nobody has to step or lean far into the wet slab.
Will the concrete contractor let us?
Ask when the pour is scheduled, not on the day.
They'll know the best moment, and it lands in the busiest part of the job, so they need to plan for it. Tell them how many hands and where.
What if a handprint goes wrong?
While the concrete is still plastic, float it smooth and try again.
Once it sets, it's permanent, and a wobbly print is part of the story.
How to write in wet concreteCommon questions.
- Do handprint kits work in a new slab?
- You don't need one for a new slab. The concrete takes a hand directly, so the thumb test and a bucket of clean water are enough.
- How long will a handprint last?
- As long as the slab does, because the print is part of the concrete. We can point to the record: 20-year-old stamped concrete is still going strong.
- Can a dog's paw go in too?
- Yes, with the same rinse rule: clean water, right away, between the toes too. Our pet memorial page covers paw prints beside a name.
- How old should kids be?
- Old enough to hold still for a few seconds and keep their hands away from their face until they're rinsed. A grown-up can guide a younger child's hand and rinse it at once.
- What should we write beside the handprints?
- The names and the date are enough. First names read best at a child's scale, and the year tells the rest of the story when the kids are grown.
Find the stamp for your pour.
The ground remembers.
Stamped Sidewalks, a Dimension Sign shop. Made in Minnesota.