Armed with a lack of Pinterest worthy skills and two energetic 2.5 year olds, we set out to find easy Valentine crafts that anyone can do. These projects are all easy – meaning they are relatively easy to get supplies for, easy to explain to your kids, and easy to clean up. We genuinely had fun with each of these Valentine’s Day craft projects and hope you do too.
1. Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamps
Supplies: Cardstock, toilet paper or paper towel roll, paint, paper plate, tape, wipes and newspaper recommended
Don’t throw out that toilet paper roll, simply flatten it and then push in one side to make it a heart. Add a piece of tape for the stamp to keep its shape, and congratulations – you have created a DIY heart stamp. On a paper plate, put a small amount of the paint colors you would like to you use. The stamp needs very little paint. For two budding artists, we used about a quarter sized amount of red, purple, and two shades of pink.
Remember, the quality of the heart stamp is directly related to the effort that you — the adult — put into making the heart stamp. I bent the toilet paper roll and put a piece of tape on it to hold the heart together. It took about fifteen seconds. As a direct result, our hearts were a little oddly shaped.
2. Mosaic Hearts
Supplies: Cardstock or other sturdy paper for the background, multi-color construction paper, scissors, pen or pencil, glue, paper plate and Q-tip recommended
This was our first foray into glue. We try to do art projects for most holidays, but for some reason paint has just seemed easier. Well, the kids loved glue. I pre-cut mosaic pieces from construction paper scraps and lightly drew a heart on the white card stock. Then, we had the talk. The talk about how you have to be careful with glue. I put a small, quarter-sized amount of glue in a paper plate for each child and demonstrated how to use a Q-tip to put glue inside the lines of the heart. They needed significantly less guidance with the glue than expected. But, they did need lots and lots of glue. I started off with the small amount until they got the hang of it. As their skillset grew, they got more glue.
This Valentine’s Day project was a total win for us. Both kids loved it. My son’s mosaic pieces were perfectly straight along the lines of the heart. I was a little perplexed by this until he explained, “It’s a train, mommy! The train is on the tracks.” Of course, everything is a train to this little guy.
3. Handprint Hearts
Supplies: Cardstock or other sturdy paper for the background, paint, paintbrush, scissors, wipes and newspaper recommended
There is nothing better than a hand or footprint art project. In that spirit, we set out to make handprint hearts. I gave each child a short lesson on how to make a heart with their hands, painted a thin layer of red paint on each hand (one at a time), and – voila – we made heart handprints.
I did not intend to cut out the handprints, but ultimately decided to cut around the projects to make them look more like hearts. Let’s just say that each of our hearts had some integrity issues. Overall, the kids enjoyed doing this Valentine’s Day craft. They very much wanted to paint their own hands, and we have done that with some success in the past. Despite involving paint, this project took shockingly little time.
4. Painting Plaster Characters
Supplies: Plaster Character Kit (Target), wipes and newspaper recommended
The Target dollar section is an amazing resource that should not be underestimated. Among a variety of small arts and crafts projects, Target regularly has an assortment of plaster character painting kits. For one dollar, the kit includes a small plaster character, three paint colors, and a paintbrush. I purchased one kit for each child, a smiley-faced heart and a dinosaur with hearts on it. This project kept my twins entertained for nearly forty-five minutes! My expectations were greatly exceeded. The project last longer than anticipated because the kids were very interested in checking in on each other’s projects.
5. Sticker Hearts
Supplies: Cardstock or construction paper for the hearts, stickers, scissors
Last but not least, sticker hearts. Perfect for babies and families that just do not have the time or patience for paint and glue, simply cut out some hearts and let your little have fun placing stickers on the heart. As a bonus, these are very easy to mail to family as Valentine’s Day cards. My twins did this Valentine’s Day craft before turning one – they loved it, and grandma did too.
Do you have any easy Valentine’s Day Crafts with kids that you’ve done and loved? Please share them in the comments below!
