this collection of creative valentine’s day crafts and activities are perfect for your older babies, toddlers, preschoolers and even older children!
with valentine’s day right around the corner, i wanted to bring out an oldie but a goodie with a few updates and new activities!!
annnnd can we talk about how little these tiny girls are?! where has the time gone?!
we’ll be re-doing a few of these activities leading up to valentine’s day but i have a few more to add to the list!
..let’s get to it..
valentine’s day crafts
here’s a round-up of my most favorite valentine’s day crafts for older babies, toddlers + even older children!
1. unique valentine’s day salt hearts
these unique watercolor and salt valentine’s day hearts are the perfect craft for your toddlers and preschoolers to explore and hang for beautiful decor!
2. valentine’s day bird feeders
these creative and simple valentine’s day bird feeders are sure to be a hit with your toddlers, preschoolers and even older kids!
3. valentine’s sorting sensory bin
this simple valentine’s day sensory bin is perfect for babies, toddlers and your preschool or pre-k classroom in february!
4. shiny valentine’s day heart
this adorable and simple shiny valentine’s day craft is the perfect valentine’s heart decoration for your toddlers, preschool or pre-k class to make!
5. valentine’s day soup
this easy and FUN sensory activity will engage and spark creativity for your baby, toddler, preschooler and even big kid! perfect for Valentine’s Day and even year round!
6. cookie cutter paintings
this simple, easy and FUN open-ended craft activity with cookie cutters will engage and spark creativity for your older baby, toddler, preschooler and even big kid! perfect for Valentine’s Day!
7. L-O-V-E canvas painting
materials:
canvas
tape {painters tape or duct tape}
paint
directions:
1. tape the letters for the word you want
2. paint with either with fingers or paintbrushes!
notes: if paint slips under the tape, just wet a paper towel to clean up! {enter…paint in lila’s mouth!}
8. footprint with doily butterfly
materials
construction paper
two doilies per butterfly
paint
directions:
1. have child sit on a chair and paint bottom of foot
2. stamp foot on paper and let dry
3. cut out food and glue doilies to the back of the foot print!
9. you make my heart flutter {footprint tracing w/ scribbled butterfly}
materials
paper {two different colors}
crayons (or markers)
scissors
directions
1. trace foot with pen or pencil then cut out
2. let child color or paint other color paper
3. cut out ‘wings’ and glue to back of footprints
4. draw or glue on face!
notes: the girls chose which media to ‘color’ with! googly eyes are really cute with these..we just didn’t have any on hand.
10. finger painted valentine’s day cards
materials:
paper {we used finger paint and construction..whatever you have around the house is fine as long as it’s not too thin to rip}
paint
scissors
directions:
1. let kids finger-paint as many pictures as they want! we used these as valentine’s for all friends + family so we wanted a bunch!
2. after paint dries, cut out heart shapes…they don’t have to be perfect!
3. if your kiddo can cut, this is the perfect activity for them!
notes: unique and *free* v-day cards! woo woo!
11. heart contact paper window catchers
materials:
construction paper
contact paper
tissue paper cut in squares
directions
1. cut out heart shape
2. cut tissue paper into 1 inch squares {ish}
3. stick heart shape onto contact paper and trim around heart
4. stick tissue paper squares onto contact paper
5. hang on window!
12. lo{v}e footprint painting
materials
canvas
paint
directions
1. using fingers or brushes, paint canvas and let dry
2. paint or use cut outs of letters to spell L O __ E
3. when paint is dry, use one of each foot to make the letter V.
notes: with one baby, use one of each foot to make the ‘v’… i totally goofed and did both of the girls right foot…ugh! oh well, still cute!! i also probably would have used white paint if i had it on hand!
13. footprint love {bug}
materials
constructoin paper
paint
marker
googly eyes {optional!}
directions
1. paint foot red with heel black then stamp on paper.
2. after dried, use marker or paint to draw on face!
14. q-tip heart painting
materials
construction paper
q-tips
paint
directions:
1. using q-tips {or cotton balls or fingers!} paint paper making dots
2. when dried, cut out heart shapes to use as valentine’s!
notes: we ended up using these hearts for part of our valentine’s! if you’re child has started to make associations, make sure these q-tips don’t go in their ears!! another option would be to use cotton balls.
15. valentine’s day books
materials:
the kissing hand by audrey penn
love and kisses, kitty by max haynes
elmo loves you by sarah albee
counting kisses by karen katz
i hope you have a wonderful valentine’s day with your littles!!
question: what’s your favorite valentine’s day activity?!
** this post contains affiliate links to where if you the reader, click + purchase a product from the link, i will make a small amount of money based on your purchase. as always, i appreciate your support!
16. handprint on doily
materials:
doily
paint
directions:
super easy…paint hand and stamp!
notes: this is a perfect one for baby’s first valentine’s day!! easily given to grandparents!
These are great! I love the butterfly ones and think my toddler would love them too.
My girls have been talking about their ‘fufferfy’s’ all morning!!
My kind of fun! Great stuff! ❤️???
You’re always so great at this stuff!
These are all such great ideas and super cute! I’ll definitely be doing some of these with my little one!
Thanks, mama!! Let me know which ones you do!
So many cute and easy ideas. I pinned the LOVE painting with tape and can’t wait to do that one with my three kids.
Aw, thank you!! It was a lot of fun and it’s now hanging in their playroom!!
Love all of these! I will certainly be saving these ideas for future use. What nontoxic paint do you use? We did footprint valentines this year and I wanted to do some handprints but the paint I had wasn’t nontoxic. I would love a recommendation!
Thanks, Becky!! I updated the post with the links to all the products I used!! I love the crayola washable finger paints!
Perfect thanks!!
I love the idea of painting with cookie cutters! I never thought of that!
It’s so simple and you can do it for almost any holiday!! My girls love the cookie cutters!
We did the canvas painting once and I love (no pun intended) the way it turned out!!
It turns out so cute!! It’s hanging in their playroom now!! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Omg this is so cute!! Love how you get excited for Valentine’s Day. You definitely celebrate it more than we do here. I Love how the kids are involved too and that love foot painting is the cutest. X
Thanks Kasie!! Hehe, I do love Valentine’s Day…mainly because we get to do so many fun things now with toddlers!!
Some great ideas here! I love the butterflies!
Annie x | http://www.musingsofamakeupjunkie.com
Thanks, Annie! The butterflies were my girls favorites too!
These are such adorable activities!! We love sensory bins!
Thanks, mama!! We do too… they ask to play in them on a daily basis!
My kids love anything to do with paint or crafts so you have given me some great ideas!
Amina xx | http://www.AliandHer.com
So glad you got some ideas, Amina!! My girls LOVE to paint too!
Love the pictures this week
:* :* Thanks babe!
I love that LOVE canvas. Such a great idea! I want to do that w my son when he is older.
Wow how did you manage to do all of these?!!! Supermom! I love these ideas!
You just reminded me that I have contact paper to use for crafts! You’ve given me some really great ideas for crafts this week.
So many fun ideas! We do the cookie cutter painting and my kids love it.
These are all so cute! At first I was like, “oh, I love the LOVE canvases” then I saw the cookie cutter painting, then I was like “those tissue paper sun catchers are adorable!” LOL, all so fun! My kids would have a blast! And for easy painting clean up my favorite trick is to just have them paint in the bathtub! Cleaning up is so easy!!
OK, I just need to know, how did you find time to do all this!? Did you commit one day to it or a different activity here and there? You are supermom!
I love how creative you guys are !!!
Ummm LOVE the bulk canvas idea… why have I not thought of that! Genius!! Totally doing some of these with Dawson this valentines season!! Thanks for your great ideas! <3
So many fun ideas, you’re always doing the cutest things with your little ones!
There’s not one activity I haven’t loved in this post! (And your girls are adorably creative)
As an artist myself, I might “steal” a few of these ideas to make Valentine gifts for my own children (they love artistic gifts from mama) 🙂
Thank you!
– Luana
mama.luana.me
Yes!!!!!
There are some really cute ideas on this article. Can’t wait to make some of this artwork with my kiddo.