Easy Valentine's Day kids' crafts

Feb 01, 2012 7:00 AM by Laura Willard

Posted in Holidays & Seasons / Valentine's Day / Valentine's Family Fun

Heart-shaped crayons

Every family with preschoolers or school-age children has an abundance of crayons. Dig through your kids' crayon stash and pull out the bits and pieces to make these fun and extremely easy heart-shaped crayons. This is a fun Valentine's Day craft for kids that is also green -- instead of throwing out old crayons, you're making them new again.

Materials:

Pieces of crayons (paper labels removed)
Heart-shaped mini-muffin pan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Fill each heart in the pan with crayon pieces. If any are too large, break them up.
Place the crayon-filled pan in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes and "bake" the crayons.
Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing crayons.
Voila! Instant heart-shaped multicolor crayons.

Heart-shaped sun-catchers

Simple, fun and pretty, heart-shaped sun-catchers are a fun kids' craft. There's no glue or paint involved in this one, so cleanup is a snap.

Materials:

Pink and red cellophane
Contact paper
Scissors
Red string

Directions:

Cut an even number of hearts out of the contact paper.
Cut the cellophane into small pieces.
Pair up the contact paper hearts and remove the contact paper backing.
Cover one contact paper heart (out of each set of two) with cellophane.
Place the string on top of the cellophane-covered heart, and then place the second contact paper heart on top, sticky-side down.
Repeat with each set of contact paper hearts.
Hang your sun catchers near a window!

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Valentine spider

This cute little spider won't give you the creepy-crawlies. A Valentine spider is a fun, easy craft for kids that requires very few supplies. Stick it to the wall -- you won't want to squash this lovely spider.

Materials:

Pink, red and white construction paper
Scissors
Glue stick
Markers
Googly eyes

Directions:

Cut a heart shape out of the red construction paper.
Cut eight strips of paper out of the pink construction paper -- each a half-inch wide, 8 inches long.
Cut eight small hearts out of the white construction paper.
Glue the googly eyes on the large heart and draw on the nose and mouth.
Fold each leg, accordion-style, and then unfold.
Glue the eight legs to the back of the heart -- four on each side. (Or you can tape the legs.)
Glue the little heart feet on the legs.
Stick to the wall with tape.

Homemade Valentine's Day play dough

Kids love play dough, and if you're brave enough for the mess, this is a great Valentine's Day craft for kids, especially if you "bake" some of your child's creations and use them as little tabletop decorations. Don't be intimidated by the cooking element -- this is easy to make.

Materials:

2 cups of flour
2 cups of water
1 of cup salt
1-1/2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
A few drops of red food coloring

Directions:

Put a saucepan on the stove, but don't turn the heat on just yet.
Combine all ingredients in the saucepan and stir together with a whisk.
Cook over low heat, continually stirring with a wooden spoon; look for the consistency to change -- it will become thick and lose its sticky texture (this usually takes three to five minutes).
Place the play dough on a sheet of wax paper and knead until it's smooth.

Once your kiddos are enjoying their new handmade play dough, the really fun part of the Valentine's Day craft begins. Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to make little play-dough hearts. Or have your kids create whatever objects remind them of Valentine's Day. Bake their creations in the oven at 250 degrees F for up to 30 minutes or until they are hard (it might take less time). Give their handiwork some time to dry completely, then allow your kids to paint their items with acrylic-based paints.