Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and that means it’s time to make some precious holiday memories! One of my favorite things to do with my toddler is work on crafts. Now that my daughter is getting a little more dextrous, it’s becoming easier to direct her with more interesting crafts than just a simple hand-/footprint. Here are a few fun ideas to entertain your little person, while creating a cute keepsake or decoration for the fridge!
1. Finger Paint Heart Art
Use finger paints and paper to create unique heart artwork. Most toddlers love getting messy and this activity has the added benefit of developing their fine motor skills. For a cleaner alternative, you can put paint blobs on the heart and then seal the whole thing in a large ziploc, then let your toddler spread the paint without the mess.
2. Crayon Resist Art
Use crayons to draw hearts on paper, and then allow your toddler to paint over them with watercolor paint. The crayon lines will resist the paint and create a fun design.
3. Valentine’s Day Collage
Gather various textures like construction paper, felt, and foam hearts and let your toddler create a collage by sticking these materials onto a large heart-shaped paper! You can add sticky dots or tape to make it more permanent, or consider using velcro, so your toddler can rearrange as much as they’d like. Here’s a good kit with plenty of crafting supplies.
4. Handprint Heart Cards
Use paint or markers to make handprint art on cards or paper. Add a sweet message, and you’ve got a personalized Valentine’s Day card to send to grandparents or friends!
5. Tissue Paper Flowers
Help your toddler create simple flowers using tissue paper, scissors, and glue, then they can further decorate their flowers with hearts, stickers, paint dots, or other embellishments.
6. Sensory Bin Valentine’s Hunt
Fill a bin with rice, beans, or sand and hide small toy hearts or other Valentine’s-themed objects. Let your toddler sift through and find the hidden treasures!
7. Paper Plate Heart Wreath
Cut out the center of a paper plate and help your toddler glue construction paper hearts onto it, creating a wreath. Decorate it further with ribbons, stickers, or other embellishments! Check out this tutorial from The Resourceful Mama!
8. Footprint Heart Trail
Paint your toddler’s feet and have them walk on a large piece of paper to create a footprint trail. Alternatively, just use their feet to make a heart on a smaller piece of paper! Add hearts or other Valentine’s-themed decorations along the trail.
9. Valentine’s Day Stamping
Cut out heart shapes from sponges or foam sheets and let your toddler stamp the hearts onto paper using paint or ink pads.
10. Heart-Shaped Crown
Help your toddler create a heart-shaped crown using construction paper, scissors, and glue, then decorate with gems, stickers, or other embellishments. Here’s a cute tutorial from Happy Mothering.
Remember, the most important aspect of all these activities is to have fun and be creative with your toddler! Don’t expect perfection and be prepared for mess. I’d recommend wearing clothes you don’t mind getting ruined or use these cute toddler painting smocks. If you’re worried about them eating the craft supplies, be sure to purchase non-toxic paints that are safe for accidents. Best of luck and have fun with these simple Valentine’s crafts for your toddler!
If you’re looking for other activities to work on with your toddler, check out my other activity posts.
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