Make Heart Pins Out of Dough for Valentine's Day - A Children's Craft

Last year for Valentine's Day, my grandson and I decided to do something special for his class besides handing out cards. We decided to make heart pins. We thought about making them out of construction paper or cardboard, but then my grandson asked if we could make them out of dough, similar to how we made ornaments for our tree right before Christmas. I thought it was a great suggestion, so we went to work.

Items Needed to Make Valentine Heart Pins

-Dough (kind used to make ornaments-Internet is loaded with different recipes)
-Pin clasps (with flat backs-also available on the Internet or at craft stores)
-Acrylic paints
-Paintbrushes
-Glue
-Glue gun (optional)
-Heart shaped cookie cutter
-Mod Podge
-Permanent marker (black)
-Glitter (optional)

How to make Valentine Heart Pins

Follow the instructions on how to make dough ornaments that are include in your recipe. One trick I learned to prevent ornaments from developing bubbles when baking is to poke small holes in them with a toothpick before baking. The more holes the better. Do not worry about them showing. You can put enough paint on to fill in the holes. Be sure your heart cookie cutter is well flowered and your dough is one-fourth inch thick when rolled out. I also like to make sure all edges of the cutout dough shape are smooth. A little water on a fingertip works well to pat down edges.

After the ornaments have thoroughly dried, let your child paint them in shades of red, pink and white. Let them add their own design and color scheme to each heart.

After the dough hearts have dried, apply three coats of Mod Podge to the front and back of each one, letting each coat thoroughly dry in between coverings. If you want, before the Mod Podge dries, sprinkle a little glitter on them over an open shoebox.

When all hearts are dry, have your child write each classmates name on a heart with the permanent marker. Do not forget the teachers and/or your family members.

Turn each heart over and apply the flat bottom clasps to the backside of each heart. You may want to use a glue gun, but craft glue works just as well. Never let a child use a hot glue gun. The clasps should be placed near the top to the Valentine pin hangs straight.

Layer the Valentine heart pins in a box with tissue paper for transporting to school.

Source: Personal Experience