Hearts are one of the first things toddlers draw with their fingers on a large piece of paper, while kindergarten-aged children learn how to draw hearts as soon as they pick up their first crayon. But actually, kids of all ages love making all kinds of hearts, especially when you give them as gifts to show friends and family how much you love them.
Heart crafts are great fun for Valentine's Day or any other occasion where you want to share a little love. All of these ideas are really doable, and most can be made with the materials you probably have in your closet. Your kids will love them!
Collage hearts made from paper scraps
These collage hearts are beautiful and a great way to use up leftover craft supplies.
Cut a heart out of a piece of paper. Tear up different types of paper: old maps, envelopes, corrugated cardboard, etc. The different textures are a real joy for the children. Then stick the paper strips on the heart in the desired row.
Make shaving cream hearts
This fun craft project is so easy to set up and leads to sensory fun. The end results are always unique and beautiful.
Necessary materials:
- Shallow container
- Shaving cream
- Paint (a combination of red and pink washable tempera paints)
- pike
- Watercolor paper or cardstock
- Scissors
This is how it's made:
- Cut out hearts of different sizes from the paper. When you're done cutting out the hearts, you can punch holes to make a garland or cover the backs with clean white paper toCreating Valentine's Day cards.
- Line your work surface or table with newspaper.
- Pour the shaving cream into the shallow bowl.
- Add the coloring and swirl it with the skewer.
- Place a paper heart on top of the colored shaving cream, remove it, and wipe off the excess foam with another piece of cut paper. Repeat the process with the remaining paper hearts, adding more color if necessary.
- Allow the shaving cream artwork to dry completely. Place books over the dried hearts to flatten them in case they curl up.
Tip: To achieve more marbled effects, use less color on the shaving cream.
Simple paper plate heart for kids
If you don't have any colored paper plates available, you can start this project by painting your white paper plates first. Then work with the materials you already have on hand. Some small children love to use stickers, sequins and gems asadditional decorationto add. That's entirely up to you.
Materials required:
- paper plate
- Scissors
- Pencil
- punch
- Garnnadel
- Yarn (various colors)
- Band
Directions:
- First, fold your paper plate in half and cut out a heart shape template.
- Using a pencil, trace the heart template in the center of the other paper plates and then cut out the heart shapes.
- Use the hole punch to punch holes around the entire circumference of the heart.
- Thread a long piece of yarn onto the yarn needle. Pull the needle through one of the heart's holes and secure the end of the yarn to the back of the paper plate with tape. Now continue threading the yarn through the different holes of the heart until all of the holes have been used. Younger children can sew a “wilder” heart pattern. Older children may adhere to a more orderly process. But that's not really important!
- When you reach the end of the yarn or have threaded all the holes of your heart through, cut the yarn and tape the end to the back of the paper plate.
Create sweet hugs for Valentine's Day
This classic craft project is very simple and great for preschoolers.
What do you need:
- Red, white and pink paper
- 2 big googly eyes
- Pencil
- Pink glitter glue
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Black pen or marker
Step-by-step instructions:
- Draw one large and four small hearts on the red paper and cut them out.
- Cut the white paper into 4 strips about 1 inch wide. Shorten two of the strips by 5 cm.
- Fold the strips back and forth in an accordion fashion.
- Glue two shorter white accordion strips to the back of the heart on the left and right for the arms.
- Glue two white strips for the legs on the bottom left and right sides.
- Attach two of the small hearts to the ends of the arms and the other two to the ends of the legs.
- Glue the two googly eyes onto the large heart and use the black marker to add a smile.
- If you want some glitter, you can apply pink glitter glue to the cheeks. Allow it to dry completely.
Create a simple heart cat
This sweet cat makes a great Valentine's Day card.
Necessary materials:
- Red and pink paper
- Googly eyes
- Black pen
- Glue
This is how it's done:
- Cut out two large and one small red hearts, and one large pink heart from the paper.
- Glue all the pieces so that the three red hearts are upside down to form the face and cat ears.
- Glue the googly eyes, paint on a few black whiskers and you're done.
