How to Make Valentine's Day Crafts with Kids

With a little creativity, kids can make all kinds of things out of hearts for Valentine's Day.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper hearts in all sizes and colors
• Chenille sticks or pipe cleaners
• Glue and tape
• Scissors

1. To make a snake: Accordion-fold several long strips of paper. Join them together end-to-end. Glue a heart to one end as the head. Draw on eyes. Add a string or cut paper for the tongue.

2. To make a mouse: Keep a large heart folded in half for the body. Attach a smaller heart on top of the hump for the ears. Draw on a face and whiskers. Attach a piece of string at the end for the tail.

3. To make a lion: Draw a face on a large heart. Curl strips of paper around a pencil to make the hair for the lion's mane.

4. To make a person: One large heart is the head/body of the person. Draw a face in the middle of it. Use four smaller hearts for the hands and the feet. To make arms and legs, accordion-fold strips of paper. Attach one end to the head/body and the other end to a hand or a foot.

5. To make a mask: Cut out giant heart shapes from paper. Cut out eyeholes. Let the child creatively decide what kind of animal to create.

6. To make a chain with heart-shaped links: Lay two strips of paper on top of each other. Attach one end to make the point of the heart. At the other end, curve the paper ends inward and attach, to make the rounded parts of the heart. To connect the next link. wait to attach the top part until you have linked it through the previous link.

7. To make another heart chain: Cut out several sizes and colors of hearts. Punch small holes on both the left and right sides. Use string pieces to tie one heart to the next. Or, for a shorter chain, weave the string along the entire length.

8. To make a heart wreath: Cut out several hearts. Arrange them in a circle. For a smoother edge, have all points in the center. For a pointier wreath, have points facing out. Or, alternate the direction the hearts are facing as you arrange them around the circle.

9. To make a flower bud: Cut two identical hearts of the same color. With the points pointing up, these will be the flower bud. To make the stems, use chenille sticks (pipe cleaners), strips of paper, or straws. Attach the heart buds to the tops of the stems. If desired, cut out or add leaves to the stem.

10. To make a tree: Create a tree trunk and branches out of paper or papier-mache. Attach green hearts, point-out, as the leaves.

11. For creative fun: Provide a basket of hearts in different sizes and colors. Let the children come up with their own creative designs.

12. For cutting practice: Fold different colors and sizes of paper in half. Draw half a heart shape on the fold. Have the child practice cutting skills by cutting out the hearts.

13. To make edible flower buds: Make chocolate kisses and wrap them in colorful foil, or prepurchase chocolate kisses. Stick a pipe cleaner or chenille stick in the bottom.

14. To make a bracelet or necklace: Find heart-shaped beads at your local arts and crafts store. String them on elastic, yarn, string, or for younger children chenille sticks or pipe cleaners. Or use regular beads that are the traditional Valentines Day colors of pink, red, purple, and white.

15. To make heart-shaped cookies: Make your favorite sugar cookie cut-out recipe or buy a premade mix. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies before baking. Or, purchase pre-made heart-shaped cookies from the store. Decorate them using frosting, sprinkles, and anything else tasty and fun!

[dtwelloh]

on 1/13/2009 Sounds like some good advice. Will give it a try with my grand kids this year. Well written article(s) I give it 5 stars.