Valentine's Day Craft Ideas for Kids

Kids love to do arts and crafts and Valentine's Day provides a huge outlet for their creativity. The basic supplies for most of these are paper, scissors, glue, and imagination.

You can make different animals out of hearts. To make a snake, simply accordion fold (like a fan) a strip of paper and glue one end of it to a heart, on which you have drawn a face. To make a mouse, take one half of a large heart, which is the body, add one small heart for the ears, and a piece of string for the tail. Make a heart person, using different sizes of hearts for the head, body, hands and feet. Use narrow accordion-folded strips for arms and legs. Use a large heart for a lion's face. Curl strips of paper around a pencil and attach them around the top for the lion's mane, or use yarn.

Make a heart chains. Take two strips of paper and lay them on top of each other. Staple, tape, or glue the bottom to make the bottom point of a heart. Curve the top of the strips inward and staple them to make the top. Continue making hearts, being sure to link them before stapling the top part. Cut out a bunch of hearts. Poke holes on two opposite sides Tie the hearts together. Cut out a bunch of hearts and attach them with narrow strips of paper.

Recreate nature with a heart. You can put a bunch of hearts together in a circle to make a wreath. Turn the hearts upside down and you have flower buds. Attach a bunch by the round part for a 3-D effect. Some tree leaves are heart-shaped in nature. Make your flowers and trees flat on paper, or hang them using paper-mache, real trees or sticks, straws, or pipe cleaners.

Make edible treats by taking chocolate kisses, wrapping them in colorful foil, and inserting a pipe cleaner.

Go to your favorite arts and crafts store. Look for heart-shaped beads for making necklaces or bracelets. Put the beads on string, or for younger children, use pipe cleaners/chenille sticks. I found many for my classroom in the Discount School Supply catalog.

Using large paper, cut out huge hearts and let the children create a mask of a creature of their own imagination.

Just set up a basket filled with hearts of all sizes and shapes and made of different materials (foam, doilies, paper, felt) and let the kids go crazy! You'll need lots of glue! Or, to encourage cutting skills, fold pieces of paper in half, and draw half a heart on each, starting at the fold. Provide a variety of scissors, including edgers for fun effects.

Go to the following websites for more fun crafty ideas that my "kids" have loved.

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