Valentine Crafts for Preschoolers

Want a craft that’s easy and fun for your preschooler but still looks like art?  You know what I’m talking about.  These two crafts are for you.

My two-year-old son loves crafts.  He loves painting.  He loves coloring.  However, he doesn’t have that much of an attention span.  

Five minutes, ten minutes tops… is all I have if I want to sit down and craft with him. 

Plus, he doesn’t really like to be told what to do.  Thus giving more than one instruction is a no-go.  I like projects where I can lay everything out and just let him create.

These two projects are just that!  They also have the added bonus of using one creation in both projects!

The Book

You know me.  I used to be a teacher and I love incorporating reading and literature in most everything that I do.  For this project, I found the book, The Day It Rained Hearts.  

The story is simple and sweet.  One day, hearts rain from the sky.  Cornelia Augusta collects them and creates personalized valentines for all her friends. 

After reading the book, we created our own hearts.

Then, I prepped the table by covering it with craft paper.  Use any paper you have available.  Old Christmas wrapping paper perhaps? 

This is going to get messy.

Love Bug Butterflies

These make the perfect wall or door decoration for February and they are incredibly simple!

All you need is: 

• construction paper hearts
• finger paint
• empty toilet paper roll
• pipe cleaners

First, let your preschooler go wild painting the hearts.  I told you it would get messy. My son even used the toilet paper roll as a brush – which I thought was awesome!

Let these dry overnight.  

Pay special attention to the hearts that have a lot of paint.  These will tend to curl as they dry.  If you see this happening, secure the corners of the heart with either a paperweight or use a small piece of duct tape to hold it down to the paper.

Once everything is dry, secure four hearts on the back of a toilet paper roll with duct tape.  This will be facing a wall so you don’t need to worry about making it pretty.  

Punch a hole in the top of the roll with a sharp knife or hole punch.  Thread a sparkly pipe cleaner through for antennae and you are done!  A gorgeous decoration that is perfect for your child’s bedroom door. 

Preschooler Valentines

In the book, Cornelia Augusta creates thoughtful valentines where each Valentine resembles her friend.  For the rabbit, she takes a heart and places a white cottonball in the middle.  For the turtle, she paints the heart to look like a turtle shell.

For these Valentines, I placed a variety of supplies on the table and let my kids create whatever they desired.

I suggest:

• card stock (I cut a 8 1/2″ by 11″ piece into four)
• markers
• pipe cleaners
• puffy balls
• googly eyes
• washi tape
• whatever you have on hand!

My son created two valentines before he got bored.  That two-year-old attention span. 

 That yellow one in the middle is a “joint collaboration” between him and me.  He colored a white card all yellow, refused to put a heart on it and then left the table.

I stuck the heart on when he wasn’t looking.

 These personal cards created by my son and daughter are perfect for teacher, neighbor or grandparent gifts.  The back of the cards are blank which make it the perfect space to write a little note.

These two Valentine crafts are easy, fun and perfect for your child to create original works of Valentine’s art. 

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