5 Easy DIY Valentine’s Crafts for Preschoolers
Love is in the air! And in your child’s craft projects.
If you’re looking for fun and easy preschool Valentine's Day crafts to keep your preschooler entertained and feel the love this season, then this post is packed with five adorable projects that are perfect for little hands. Get ready for some festive crafting fun for your child!
Tiny Fingerprint Hearts Card
Spread the love by making an adorable, tiny heart card with your child’s tiny fingerprints! It’s simple, cute, and will warm the heart of whoever you send it to.
Materials
- Child-safe paint
- Paper plate
- Cardstock
Instructions
- Fold a piece of cardstock in half, creating a greeting card.
- Squeeze paint out onto a small part of the paper plate.
- Help your child dip the top section of their pointer finger into the paint. If there is a lot of paint on your child’s finger, dab it off on a dry part of the plate.
- Place your child’s finger on the card at a slight angle to the left, making a fingerprint and one-half of the heart.
- Your child’s finger probably still has paint on it. Place your child’s finger on the card at a slight angle to the right, making a fingerprint and the other half of the heart.
- Repeat as many times as you like for as many hearts as your child wants to print.
Tips
- This is a great time to teach your child that cleanup is part of the process. They should learn how to clean paint off their hands with soap, wipe down the sink, and clean up their art area.
- Help your child write a Valentine’s Day message to a family member and send the card to them.
Dough Handprint Heart
Like a handprint on my heart… Preserve your child's tiny hands as a keepsake for yourself or a grandparent. This timeless keepsake can be cherished for years to come.
Materials
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup salt
- 4 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups water
- Up to 1 cup water
- Large bowl
- Rolling pin
- Large heart-shaped cookie cutter
- Plastic disposable straw
- Twine, ribbon, or string
Instructions
- Add the flour and salt to the large bowl and mix. Your child will love mixing it with their hands!
- Slowly add water in stages. If the mixture is crumbly and dry, add more water. Stop adding water when the dough resembles Play-Doh in texture.
- Transfer the dough to the table. Help your child roll out the dough evenly with the rolling pin.
- Press the large heart-shaped cookie cutter into the dough. Remove the excess dough.
- Gently press your child’s hand into the heart, making a print. Help them go slowly and use even pressure. If the dough starts to crack, remove their hand.
- Take the plastic straw and make two holes that can be used to hang the heart. Place one end into the right top rounded part of the heart. Then using the other end of the straw, create a similar hole on the left rounded part of the heart.
- Let the dough heart dry overnight.
- Place the dough heart on a piece of parchment paper and bake at 125 degrees Fahrenheit for 3-4 hours.
- Turn on the oven light and check the dough every 20 minutes to make sure the dough heart doesn’t crack or burn. Avoid opening the oven door.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- When the heart is cool, thread the twine, ribbon, or string, through each hole to create a hanger.
Tips
- If you’d like to paint this keepsake, check your local craft store for a bake-at-home clay kit.
- Use a disposable straw rather than a reusable one. It’s very difficult to clean the drying dough out of a reusable straw.
- This makes a great gift!
Negative Space Fingerpainting
Negative space art is a fun and creative way to explore the concept of space and form. That’s a fancy way of saying that you and your use a stencil to make heart art. For a Valentine's Day project, you can create a beautiful piece of heart-themed artwork by putting your child’s creativity and curiosity to work.
Materials
- Child-safe paint
- Small canvas
- Painter’s tape
- Paint brushes
- Paper plate
- Child-safe scissors
- Construction paper
Instructions
- Using the paper plate as a palette, pour the base color that your child wants to use on their canvas.
- Paint the canvas and let dry.
- While it’s drying, fold one piece of construction in half. Along the folded edge, draw a small half a heart.
- Observe your child cutting out the full heart, using your half of a heart as a guide.
- Set the heart aside. Keep the larger part of the paper that now has a heart-shaped opening in it.
- Cut it down so the paper is now slightly smaller than the canvas. This is now a heart stencil. Open it and smooth it out.
- When the canvas is dry, place the stencil on top and use the painter’s tape to secure it to the canvas.
- Pour multiple colors of paint onto the paper plate. Encourage your child to finger-paint within the heart. Let dry.
- When the canvas is dry, remove the stencil to reveal a brightly colored heart.
Valentine’s Footprint Keepsake
Feeling sentimental? A heart-shaped footprint keepsake is a sweet way to remember how small your child once was. This project is a great way to spend some quality time with your child and create a lasting memory. Your child won’t forget the fun afternoon when you painted their feet!
Materials
- Child-safe paint
- Heart-shaped paper doilies
- Newspaper
- Marker
- Paper plate
- Wide paint brush
Instructions
- Lay newspaper on the floor. Have your child sit on it with their feet on the ground and knees bent.
- Carefully paint the bottom of one of your child’s feet.
- Place their painted foot on the heart-shaped paper doily, with their heel in the rounded part of the heart. Their toes should point towards the pointy part of the heart. You may need to rotate the doily so it’s most comfortable for your child.
- Carefully paint the bottom of the other foot.
- Place their painted foot on the heart-shaped paper doily, creating the other side of the heart. Their heel will be in the other rounded part of the heart and their toes will point towards the pointy part of the heart. Again, you may need to rotate the doily so it’s easy to print and most comfortable for your child.
- Let dry.
- When the paint is dry, write, “I love you from your head to your toes” around the outside of the heart with a marker.
Tips
- Got a ticklish child? Be careful when painting their foot, especially if they react and fling paint accidentally.
- Have baby wipes nearby so you can easily clean their feet without them having to walk through your house.
- Create one for each member of the family and hang them up next to each other.
- Don’t forget to put the date on the back of the doily! In the future, you might wonder when you created this special footprint.
- You can also write, “You leave footprints on my heart” as an alternative on the doily.
Cardboard Tube Heart Stamps
Heart-stamped artwork combines creativity, fine motor skills, and a whole lot of fun. Adults and kids alike love stamping, so this is a great activity to do as a family. Open your heart and create a heartwarming masterpiece with your child.
Materials
- Kid-safe paint
- Child-safe scissors
- Rubber bands
- Cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls
- Paper plate
- Paper
Instructions
- If you’re using toilet paper rolls, skip this step. Cut your paper towel rolls in half crosswise.
- You may need to help your child with steps 2-5. Holding a shortened paper towel roll or toilet paper roll, pinch one side to make a V. The cardboard roll now looks like an upside-down teardrop.
- Across from the pointy V side, use your index finger to make an indent in the same direction of the V. You’re making the top two bumps of a heart.
- From the inside of the cardboard roll, pinch the new V part that you just made, between the bumps.
- Wrap a rubber band around the roll to secure the shape of the heart. You may need to pinch the inside of the bumps and the V (the bottom part of the heart) to make the shape more pronounced.
- Pour paint onto the paper plate. You’ll use the plate as a palette.
- Dip your heart-shaped cardboard roll (the stamp) into the paint. Stamp the heart onto the paper and repeat.
Tips
- Use multiple colors, overlap the hearts, and make patterns.
- Create a designated drying area in your home, away from high-traffic areas so your child’s artwork can dry without being smudged.
- Put the artwork on display in your home.
Heart Garland Patterns
This one is a rite of passage for children! If you have ever made a paper chain, you know how fun this simple activity can be. Make it red, white, pink, and purple, and you’ve got a Valentine’s Day decoration for your child’s bedroom.
Better yet, by making patterns themselves, you’re helping your child learn and develop in a fun and engaging way. Patterns are like the building blocks of learning, and making them is a skill that benefits kids in many ways, like developing math, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Materials
- Construction paper
- Child-safe scissors
- Tape
Instructions
- Separate your packet of construction paper into red, white, pink, and purple.
- Fold each page lengthwise 3 times, so you’re creating creases to mark 6 sections of the construction paper.
- Open the papers up. Cut along the lines to create the strips that you’ll use to make the links in the paper chain.
- Have your child decide on the pattern of colors they’d like to create in the chain.
- To create your first link, wrap one flat construction paper slip into a loop. Secure it with a piece of tape.
- With your next construction paper slip, thread it through the first link. Secure it with a piece of tape.
- Continue by following your child’s pattern.
Tips
- Hang it up in your child’s room to personalize their space using paint-safe tape.
- Use this activity for other holidays by changing the colors of the paper.
- For more math skill development, have your child guess how many links they’ll need to create a chain the length of their room. Create the chain and count the links along the way.
Paper Mosaic Heart
Making a mosaic heart out of paper is a fun and easy way to create a unique and colorful Valentine's Day decoration. Perfect for preschoolers, they’ll use fine motor skills and creativity to make a piece of art they’ll be proud to display. Chances are, you already have these materials at home, making this activity accessible for a wintry day.
Materials
- Construction paper
- Marker
- Child-safe scissors
- Glue
Instructions
- With your child, take a few pieces of construction paper and tear them into bits. These will be the pieces of your mosaic.
- Fold one piece of construction in half. Along the folded edge, draw half a heart.
- Observe your child cutting out the full heart, using your half of a heart as a guide. Open the heart and lay it flat on the table.
- Have your child glue the mosaic pieces into place, decorating their heart.
Tips
- Use a variety of colors to fill in the mosaic heart.
- You can even use paper with different textures and patterns.
- Go green by recycling paper you already have, like pages from magazines or scraps from scrapbook papers.
- Encourage your child to be creative. There’s no wrong way to decorate this mosaic heart.
- Flip the heart over and have your child write a heartfelt message to a family member or friend. Now it’s a Valentine!
Want more Valentine's Day preschool crafts? Try our sweetheart cookie sandwiches, an easy Valentine’s Day gift for your child’s teacher, and Valentine mailboxes!