As the old song goes, “You can’t put a price on love” and this Valentine’s Day you can drive that point home by helping your kids say “I love you” with handmade crafts that involve renewing, reusing and recycling common items from your home.
In addition, take an opportunity to practice small motor skills, language competence, and cleaning up the mess. I enjoy time like this with children because we share heart through conversation, listening, and creativity.
While these crafts won’t cost much, they’ll say “I love you” in a huge way and are even affordable enough to make many. Consider spreading the love with your child by taking a craft to an elderly relative or family friend, nursing home resident or to the spouse of a member of the military who is actively serving overseas.
Geared for elementary school aged children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• A wire coat hanger
• 14 to 16 empty toilet paper rolls
• Red, pink and white construction paper
• Tape
• Glue
• Scissors
What To Do:
• Bend the coat hanger opening into the shape of a circle (keep the hook as-is for hanging)
• Cut a slit halfway through the toilet paper rolls (if you have the roll standing up, slice across)
• Using the slit, slide the rolls onto the coat hanger and create a circle of toilet paper rolls
• Use tape to secure the rolls closed on the inside of the circle
• Cut out several different colors and sizes of hearts
• Glue hearts onto the toilet paper wreath
Geared for preschool aged children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• A paper plate
• Pink, red and white construction paper
• Scissors
• Crayons
• Glue
What To Do:
• Cut the center of the paper plate out to create a ring
• Fold lots of pieces of paper in half and draw a half of heart
• Cut the heart shapes out along the folded edges
• Glue hearts to paper plate wreath base
Geared for preschool aged children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• Clean baby food jars
• Table salt
• Red and purple chalk
• Plastic Ziplock type bags
What To Do:
• Put salt and a piece of colored chalk into a bag
• Zip bag shut
• Rub bag between hands
• Fill jars with layers of different colored salt (you can use plain salt for white)
• Optional: Glue lids shut using a hot glue gun
Geared for young children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• Clean baby food jars
• Paint
• Fabric scraps, ribbon or other embellishments
• Glue
• Small heart shaped candies, M&Ms or other small candy pieces
What To Do:
• Decorate the lids and jars by painting or gluing on fabric or other embellishments
• Fill jars with candies
• Put lids on
TIP: Cut out a circular piece of fabric, glue to the top of the lid allowing for overhang and tie a ribbon around the jar to fasten.
Geared for preschool aged children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• Construction paper
• Tissue paper
• Glue
What To Do:
• Cut out a large heart shape
• Fold in half and cut out the middle leaving a one inch heart shaped border
• Cut small pieces of tissue paper out
• Glue tissue paper pieces to the border of the heart
• Fill the center with tissue paper by overlapping squares
TIP: Dilute glue with water and have your child use a paintbrush to paint over the tissue paper
Geared for elementary school aged children and may require adult assistance.
What You’ll Need:
• Photos
• Straws
• Glue or stapler
• Tissue paper
• Piece of ribbon
What To Do:
• Cut out some photos in the shape of a heart
• Attach photo to straws using glue (or by using a vertical staple)
• Wrap up the bouquet of flowers using tissue paper
• Tie a ribbon around the stems
Caron Goode's (EdD) insights are drawn from her fifteen years in private psychotherapy practice and thirty years of experience in the fields of education, personal empowerment, and health and wellness. She is the author of ten books (www.inspiredparenting.net) and the founder of the Academy for Coaching Parents,(www.acpi.biz) a training program for parents & professionals who wish to mentor other parents.. Reach her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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