Making Valentines For Classmates

Stores make plenty of money from kids on Valentine’s Day. The teacher gives a list of names to each student and they address a card to each one and bring it to school on Valentine’s Day. Cards come in all shapes and sizes in the store, but they all have the same basic feel to them. Here are a few card ideas that will be different than the usual store bought cards.

Everyone loves getting mail. I visit the mailbox each day with expectation of what may be inside. Your kids can give their classmates the same feeling with a mailbox Valentine’s Day card.

Small craft boxes can be covered with white paper to resemble a mailbox. Kids can paste X’s and O’s and hearts to the outside. Inside the mailbox put a homemade card that says something that your child likes about each of them even if it is only the color of their shirt. Add a small treat inside the mailbox to put an even bigger smile on the children’s faces.

Stickers decorate cards just as well as drawings. Using scissors that create decorative edges, cut hearts and other shapes out of cardstock paper. The shapes can be pasted on a larger piece of cardstock and given that special touch using stickers. Be sure that your child doesn’t forget to write the name of each child on the card. He or she can even make one for their teacher.

Send each child in his class a teddy bear gram. Small Valentine’s bears can be purchased at the dollar store. They have bears with clear plastic slots on the front for a wallet size picture. Instead of a picture slip a folded Valentine’s Day message in the pocket. In addition to the friendly message, each child gets a teddy bear to love.

All kids like to get chocolate on Valentine’s Day. Wrap several candy kisses in aluminum foil and shape it like one giant chocolate kiss. Write a note for each classmate on a long slip of paper and roll it up. Attach one end of the paper to the top of the foil kiss. If you’re short on time or your child has a large class, the messages can all be the same to remove the need to uniquely address each giant kiss. Kids can write something cute on the paper and sign their name.

Traditional cards are okay for classmates, but if your child has an imaginative mind, let them exercise it with these ideas. Make Valentine’s Day in the classroom exciting and new.

Valentine’s Day Crafts For Toddlers and Preschoolers

Valentine’s Day is a wonderful holiday for crafts.  Kids of all ages can get involved in the preparations and celebration.  Toddlers are too young to use scissors safely on their own, but they can still participate in craft making with the family.  Here are some ideas for Valentine’s Day crafts that don’t require the use of scissors by your young ones.

Toddlers like to paint.  They learn in preschool that painting is fun and safe.  Give them some finger paints in red and white and have a good time decorating just about anything.

With finger paints you have to prepare the area so that the kids have a blast without your house looking like a construction zone.  Dress the kids in play clothes so that they can get messy without ruining their good clothes.

They can use their little hands to make a heart shape out of their prints.  You can get them to alternate red and white prints or they can mix white and red to make a batch of pink paint for more hearts.  Guide their hands to write words like “I love you” on a piece of construction paper or a poster board.

Toddlers can give the gift of flowers that they have made by themselves.  Give your toddler a variety colors and sizes of tissue paper so that they can make unique bouquets for each of their valentines.  The best thing about tissue paper is that it best resembles a flower when it is crumpled up.  Kids love to rip and crumble things up.  With this craft, they can do those things for fun.  You can crumple with them and let out your inner child too.

Once the paper is sufficiently crumpled, put the sheets together.  Show the kids how to wrap a pipe cleaner around the bundle of tissue paper sheets and fluff them up.  In no time they will look like flowers.  Since pipe cleaners may be hard to manage, it might be a better idea for parents to add the pipe cleaner and let the toddlers shape the flowers.

Craft stores have all sorts of good things that toddlers can use for Valentine’s Day crafting.  Foam shapes come pre-made.  Kids just have to punch them out and apply them to whatever surface they need to.  Instead of using glue, glue sticks are less messy and a toddler can learn to handle them much easier than a bottle of glue.

You can cut out some pictures of their face and place them in the center of the foam sheet.  After they decorate with the shapes, the craft can be given to grandparents or other family members as a Valentine’s Day card that is unique and special.

Toddlers don’t have to use scissors to make crafts.  Each of the above valentine crafts for toddlers required no scissor use and still they make excellent crafts that are fun and still allow them to be creative.

Valentine’s Day Construction Paper Crafts

Kids love to create crafts and Valentine’s Day is no exception.  Construction paper is a useful tool for making Valentine’s Day crafts that kids will enjoy creating and family members will enjoy receiving.

Start with a pad of construction paper.  Make sure that you have a pad of white sheets, red sheets, and multicolored paper.  The local office supply or craft store should have just what you need for the job.

The obvious first project is paper hearts.  Kids can use safety scissors to cut out heart tracings.  They can draw big and small hearts out of red and white sheets of construction paper.  What I like to call alligator teeth scissors can be used to cut out some of the hearts and give them a unique edged design.

Red, white, and pink are the usual colors of Valentine’s Day but don’t object if the kids want to use other colors as well.  They are being creative and creativity should be encouraged.  A purple or green heart will be made with just as much love as a red one.

Kids can use large stencils to make letters that spell out Happy Valentine’s Day.  Each letter is made out of construction paper and can be any color that the kids wish it to be.  When they are done cutting out the letters they can glue them to a string of yarn and make a banner.  Add a little glitter or stickers to make the letters stand out even more.  You can display their handiwork in a doorway or on the living room wall.

What else can kids use construction paper for?  They can decorate other items for Valentine’s Day.  Adding a few tiny pieces of red or pink construction paper to a vase or picture frame can turn it into a special gift with a love theme.

Construction paper along with some love stamps can create feel-good buttons for the entire family to wear for Valentine’s Day.  The kids can stamp to their hearts content and then cut out shapes around the designs to give to family and classmates.  A piece of rolled tape or a small safety pin can fix the “love button” to any shirt or jacket.

Construction paper doesn’t cost much and it is a wonderful way for kids to have fun at Valentine’s Day.  With simple items found around the house like construction paper, crayons, markers and scissors, crafts are easy to make at a moment’s notice.

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