Works Selected for the Early Childhood Education Special Exhibition at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair
The picture book “Palm Zoo” vividly captures and presents the characteristics of various animals using nothing but handprints. By varying the position of the palm and the degree to which the fingers are spread during the printing process, a wide range of animal shapes can be created.
Children don’t play with toys—they use their own bodies to play, finding interest and joy in the process. In doing so, their imagination and creativity flourish. For this very reason, the book was selected for the Early Childhood Education Special Exhibition at the Bologna International Children’s Book Fair, the world’s largest children’s book fair. As a featured work at this prestigious fair, it is undoubtedly a title that has earned global recognition.

A Picture Book That Actively Engages the Five Senses
Handprint art is one of the favorite drawing games for all children, offering a multisensory experience. Art activities that engage the five senses have a significant impact on the development of sensory integration skills and language development. At the end of the book, a thoughtful guide is included to help children follow along and play the game themselves. All you need are easily accessible materials such as drawing paper, paint, and colored pencils or crayons. To make the activity even more engaging, the book also features laminated blank spaces that children can color repeatedly.
So, are you ready? Let’s spread the wings of our imagination freely—with just one palm!

Touch-based sensory play helps promote the development of children’s fine motor skills and supports their emotional stability. When children grasp objects with their hands or shake toys to explore different textures, they are essentially reaching out to the world in a gesture of greeting. For this reason, hand-based play during early childhood is an exceptionally effective form of play that can simultaneously foster both intellectual and emotional development. With this in mind, we present a picture book designed to encourage children to actively engage in hand-based play.

“Zoo in the Palm of Your Hand” is a picture book created by dipping the palms of your hands into colorful paints and then pressing them onto paper. The author simply presses a paint-covered palm onto the page and adds a few simple strokes with colored pencils or crayons to bring vivid animal characters to life, accompanied by a fun and engaging story. A palm print pressed downward transforms into a chubby elephant, a print made with the hand oriented vertically becomes a mischievous monkey, and a print spread out to the sides turns into a majestic peacock, proudly displaying its beauty.
On a bright, sunny day filled with laughter, the Doseon family visits the zoo, encounters a variety of animals, and enjoys a happy day together. What kind of animal would you like to meet at the zoo? After reading the book, why not try your own palm-printing game and create your very own unique palm-animal masterpiece!

Han Tae-hee

Born in Seoul in 1962, Han Tae-hee graduated from the Department of Applied Arts at Seoul Institute of the Arts. Since then, she has continuously created illustrations for children’s picture books. In 1998, she held her first solo exhibition, “A Journey into Fairy Tales.” Among the works she has both written and illustrated are “Song-i’s Journey Through the Night Sky,” “If There Were Rabbits on the Moon,” “Bang! The Fireworks Go Off,” and “The Rustling of Falling Leaves.” She has also provided illustrations for works such as “A Train Journey on Our Land.”