V is for Valentine’s Day: 8 Fun and Easy Valentine Projects
Hello, friends! It’s February – have your days been filled with hearts and flowers this month? Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE a good holiday and that I usually go completely over the top with my decorations and celebration plans. Valentine’s Day is no exception. I thought it might be fun to share a round up of the crafts and projects that we have been up to in our house this year.
HEART ATTACK
I had seen the idea of a bedroom door “Heart Attack” on both Facebook and Pinterest earlier this year and just loved it! I am always looking for ways to incorporate more praise and positivity into my children’s life and this is such a fun and simple way to do it. It is a countdown to Valentine’s day where you place a heart with a word or phrase that describes your child on their bedroom door each night from February 1st through Valentine’s Day. Most of the instructions I found recommended that the hearts be cut out of paper, but I found foam craft hearts in the Target dollar section that were perfect. 8 hearts for a dollar and no cutting. Can’t beat that! I brainstormed a list of words, got out my black paint pen and wrote them up. Each night before I go to bed, I stick one to their doors using double stick tape. The girls are so excited to see their new heart each morning. It has been a great way to remind them to be nice, kind and helpful – things we work on a lot around here…
LOVE BUG VALENTINES
We made up these Love Bug Valentine cards for my preschooler’s class party. Again the Target dollar spot came through for me when I found these darling ladybug shaped erasers 4 for a dollar. Deal! I found the adorable free printable jars here on the Dandee Designs website:
http://www.dandee-designs.com/2012/02/love-bug-valentines.html
I printed the jars out on colored card stock and cut them out. My daughter helped to stick a ladybug on each jar using a glue dot and we added her name to the bottom. She slipped each card into a Ziploc bag and I cut off the zipper with my scissors. I tied each bag with a piece of baker’s twine to finish them off. She is so excited to hand them out at her school party. I couldn’t be happier with the finished product. So cute and candy free.
COLOR YOUR HEART OUT VALENTINES
For my younger daughter’s class party, we made these fun coloring valentines. I found the free printable card here on the Craftaholics Anonymous® website:
http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/printable-kids-valentine
I downloaded the printable, printed them out on white card stock and cut them out. I added her name to the bottom of each one and again slipped them into Ziploc bags. I cut the zipper off with my scissors, added two brightly colored crayons, folded the excess bag around the back and secured it with tape. These Valentines are brightly colored and so sweet. And again candy free. Win-win!
“LOVE” SUBWAY ART PRINTABLE
In our new home, I have a simple frame that holds a matted 8×10 image in the entry way just to the left of the front door. I fill it with a printable image for each month or season. For Valentine’s Day, I found this cool subway art printable that features 1 Corinthians 13 on love. I have always loved this passage. It was part of our wedding vows so it has special meaning and was perfect for my Valentine’s décor. I simply printed the image out and popped it in the frame. I have found that these framed images look better printed on card stock, but sometimes I am too lazy to go put the card stock in the printer. Regular printer paper works just fine too.
Find the free printable here on The Girl Creative Blog:
http://www.thegirlcreative.com/valentines-subway-art-free-printable
TEACHER APPRECIATION PRINTABLE
I was so excited to find this cute and simple teacher gift idea. This sweet candy bar wrapper reads, ” Teachers Who Love Teaching Teach Children to Love Learning” along with a Happy Valentine’s Day sentiment. I downloaded the printable wrapper, printed it out on regular printer paper and cut off the white edges. Next I wrote the teacher’s name and signed my child’s name with a red pen. Finally, I taped the wrapper around an XL size chocolate bar. Teacher gifts done! This was such an easy and inexpensive way to remind the teachers how much we appreciate them and all of the hard work they do every day.
Find the free printable at the Club Chica Circle website here:
http://club.chicacircle.com/teacher-appreciation-valentines-free-printable-chocolate-bar-wrapper
VALENTINE “I SPY” GAME
The perfect way to entertain the kids for Valentine’s Day! This sweet Valentine’s Day I Spy Printable come with an answer sheet and answer key too! Print yours at livelaughrowe.com #valentinesday #ispy #printable
I found this bright and fun printable game to play with my preschooler. She loves to count things and to spend one-on-one time with me looking at the images. I downloaded the file and printed it out on regular printer paper. The pages could easily be laminated for years of reusable fun in the future.
Find the free printable at the Live Laugh Rowe website here:
http://livelaughrowe.com/valentines-day-i-spy-printable
HEART SHAPED CINNAMON ROLLS
I haven’t actually tried these yet, but am planning to whip up a batch on Valentine’s morning. Aren’t they just the cutest? In the article on Poppies at Play she makes her cinnamon roll dough from scratch, but I am planning to use pre-made cinnamon rolls from the can. I will carefully re-roll them into this shape and pinch the bottom to make a point. I will have to get back to you on how they turn out. The idea is just too cute not to share!
Find the instructions here:
http://poppiesatplay.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-about-it-thursday_11.html
VALENTINE BARK
And of course we have been enjoying the white chocolate Valentine Bark recipe that I shared on the blog earlier this month. It is so simple to make and so delicious. You can find the recipe on the Ava’s Alphabet website (www.avasalphabet.com) under the V is for Valentine category.
As you can see we have been busy with fun and easy Valentine projects this month. I hope you are inspired to add a special touch to your holiday too. Wishing you a wonderful Valentine’s day filled with friendship and love from our family to yours.
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