Valentine's Day Crafts

Looking for something fun to do with your little one for Valentine's Day? I have a few ideas that I've discovered and have tried with my young son.

First: Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamp. All you need is an empty toilet paper roll, paper and paint.

We actually started out by doing another craft with cereal and glue. I took a piece of paper, put on glue in the shape of a heart and had my son trace it with cereal. The hardest part was that the glue wasn't sticky enough at first, so I had to help him a bit to be sure they didn't fall off. Once it was dry, they were secure, but it had to be dry.

After we got the cereal all on in the heart shape, we decided to fill it in with more cereal. So, I put more glue on the inside of the heart and Cade had a great time laying cereal down in the heart-confined area. And, you may notice that in both pictures it appears that he was also snacking at the time. What could be better than snacking and crafting with your craft!

Cade was quite pleased with his masterpiece.

But, moments later, he was bored with this masterpiece and wanted to improve upon it. Hence, the adding of toilet paper roll heart stamps. Thankfully, we had just run through a roll and I hadn't done my housewifely duties of throwing the empty roll away. Finally, my laziness paid off! I bent the toilet paper roll into a heart shape, which was super easy. Seriously, fold it in half - that'll basically do the trick.

Some blogs I read recommend putting tape across the top of the heart on the TP roll, but Cade didn't have a lot of trouble and it didn't get too badly bent out of the shape I had put it in, but you could try putting tape across to make sure it's secured for more than five minutes of use. 

After that, all you do is put some paint on a paper plate, make sure to coat the heart with paint thoroughly. Then, start stamping!

Once completed, you will have a beautiful, gawdied up piece of art that you will want to treasure forever because it was made by your littles. :) 

Next Valentine's Day Craft: Heart Puppy Dog

You may remember that I posted about something similar to this last valentine's day. But this is a simpler version for the younger kiddos. My friend, Michaela, gave me this idea when I saw her picture on Facebook, so I just had to replicate it as best I could with my boy.

All you need is some construction paper and glue - and anything else you want to use to bedazzle your pup. I didn't use a pattern at all, so just free hand cut out hearts. You will need a large heart for the face, a medium heart for the ears (that is then cut in half), a medium heart for the nose, two little hearts for the eyes and little tiny hearts for the pupils, and a oval-ish shape for the tongue.

Now all the hard work is done. Cade badly wanted to glue everything on himself, but that actually meant gluing everything on himself. So, that was unsuccessful. However, I did help him and then it worked out beautifully.

Once everything was glued on, Cade got to put stickers all over his heart puppy and then he got to paint it too. We don't do anything half-hearted...you either gawdy it up, or you go home! haha. Anyway, this was a very quick project, it took very little time but was loads of fun for my son....the nudist.

There you have it! Two (or quite possibly three) simple, fun, easy crafts to do with your little ones that will be entertaining and sweet and something you can treasure forever. And you don't even have to be very crafty to do it! Woohoo!

So, from me and my family, and especially Cade (my little wannabe cupid) - Happy Valentine's Day!