One of my favorite gifts to give and receive is a homemade card from my little one. I love creating cute artwork with my son for other people and seeing their reactions. Some of my favorite items to receive are crafts that my son has done at school. They’re so cute and precious, and I cherish them forever. Crafts are also a fun way to spend time together, to occupy your kids for a certain length of time, and to keep them busy and away from the screens. I’ve always loved doing arts and crafts with my son, and I wish I did them more with him.
With Valentine’s Day coming up, here are some fun Valentine’s Day craft ideas you can do with your littles at home:
“Love Bug” Footprints
I did this idea a couple of years ago with my son and gave it to my mother-in-law for a Valentine’s Day gift. Not only was it super easy, but it came out so cute and she absolutely adored it. All you need to complete this project is:
- paper or a canvas, whichever you prefer
- red paint
- black paint
- red marker
- black marker.
I painted his whole foot red and made a footprint on the paper. Once it dried, I drew hearts on the footprint, colored the heel of the foot with a black marker to create the face*, and then drew the legs and antennas. I then added “Jacob is a love bug” to personalize it a little more!
*Instead of coloring the heel with marker, if you’re brave, you can paint the heel with black paint and the rest of the foot red and do it all at once. I didn’t think it would go smoothly that way, so I chose to use a marker afterward.
Strawberry Hand Print
This was another Valentine’s Day craft we made as a gift to give to my mom a few years ago. It was even simpler than the footprint project previously mentioned. The hardest part may be trying to get your child to let you paint their hand. The materials needed for this one are:
- paper
- red paint
- paintbrush
- green paint (or marker)
- black paint (or marker).
Again, I chose to use markers for the detail because I tend to make a mess with the paint. I painted my son’s hands and then made the print on the paper. When it dried I used a black marker and made the black seeds on the strawberry. Afterward, I used a green marker to draw the stem. Then I wrote “I love you berry much” because I love puns!
Heart Tube Stamping
This is a super easy and inexpensive Valentine’s Day craft. All you need for this is paper and a paper towel or toilet paper roll, which you have right in your house, and paint. You can stick to just red or you can do a combination of red and pink for Valentine’s Day. Then you manipulate the roll into a heart shape and have the child dip it into the paint and stamp it on the paper.
Heart Painting with Marbles
This is a great activity to strengthen the children’s motor skills and to help them get the wiggles out. It creates a fun and colorful picture as well. All you need is:
- Marbles (and/or golf balls – we used both)
- Tempera paint
- Paper cut into a heart shape
- A tray with deep sides, or a box lid
- Spoon
“I Love You to Pieces” Collage
This activity is such a cute and simple activity that all ages can do. This Valentine’s Day craft came home from my son’s preschool last year, and I thought it was perfect. Some different variations and materials can be used as well. The materials list for this activity is as follows:
- Scissors
- Pink and red construction paper (tissue paper works great too!)
- Glue Stick
For my son’s class, they used pieces of yarn, but you can also use tissue paper, construction paper, or even colored pom poms. You could even use a combination of them all. If your child is old enough to use scissors you can have them cut the pieces themselves. This is great for strengthening their fine motor skills and helps them practice using scissors safely and correctly. All you have to do is draw the heart on the paper and have the children glue the pieces on. If their younger and you don’t want to have them use the glue stick, you can spread the glue on for them and they can place the items on the glue.
There are plenty more Valentine’s Day crafts you can do, but these ones are easy, inexpensive, and cute. They make great gifts for loved ones on the holiday of love. If you complete any of these crafts, please share your final touches. I hope everyone adds their own twists on them as well.
