One thing crafting with young toddlers has taught me… the more you plan a project, the more likely they will decide to create something wholly and entirely different!  These Valentine Relief Paintings emerged last year out of a planned shaving cream art project that went totally awry.  And if there’s one thing Big M has taught me, her creativity and uninhibited imagination at 3, vastly exceeds my own – so I tend to follow her lead so long as it doesn’t result in complete chaos and destruction!  Check out these two fun options for Valentines crafts for kids.

Valentine Crafts for Kids

Our original plan was to make marbled prints on these giant heart doilies I found at the Dollar Store.  The idea was inspired by this great post on Shaving Cream Art from The Realistic Mama.  I got the shaving cream, foil trays and the comb to drag through the paint to create the marble effect from the Dollar Store too.  I laid out a trashable layer, put some paint in little bowls and gave her an eyedropper to drip the paint with.

Supplies:

Shaving cream

Paint or food coloring

Comb

Foil Tray

Paper (we used large, heart-shaped doilies)

Cost: Less than $5

Prep Time: Less than 5 minutes

Clean-Up Time: Less than 15 minutes

I even gave Lil’ M a sponge brush with some water to paint with too!  I’m not sure if it was using paint instead of food coloring, our color choices, too much mixing or the texture of the doilies, but I wasn’t thrilled with how they were coming out.  Big M, who is painting obsessed, eventually tired of the shaving cream and asked me for a brush like her sister to paint with.  And her creations were so much better!

Valentine Relief Paintings

I gave Big M two different brushes, the square sponge one and a circular sponge one, that you can use more like a stamp.  She of course wanted to paint the ‘big hearts,’ and since it had holes around the edge, I laid it on top of a big sheet of paper first.  She immediately started stamping paint in the doily holes.  It made a cool relief effect on the paper below, so I encouraged it, and we sang a little song about painting over all the holes.

She thought it was great, so we made enough to make Valentines for all our grandparents.  Once the paintings were dry, I cut out the heart, and used it as a frame for photos of the girls, and we mailed them to our grandparents.

Not bad for a then 2 year old!  And she was so proud of her creations.  One of our most successful crafts to date, keeping her engaged for well over an hour, and created something totally different than I planned!  Are you making valentines for friends and family this year?