Valentine Crafts for Toddlers – Scissorless!
Don’t get caught thinking that Valentine’s crafts are just about cutting hearts out. Kids of all ages can get involved in the celebration. Toddlers are too young to use scissors safely on their own, but they can still participate in craft making with the family.
Here are some ideas for Valentine’s Day crafts that don’t require using scissors.
PAINT: Toddlers love to paint (all ages actually!). If they are in preschool, they have likely learned that it is safe and fun to paint. Give them some finger paints in red and white and let them create just about anything!
With finger paints, you have to have an area prepared to contain the mess. Dress the kids in play clothes so that they can get messy without ruining their good clothes.
Show them how to use their little hands to make a heart shape out of their prints. You can have them alternate between red and white… or they can mix the white and red to make a nice pink for more hearts. I think it is absolutely adorable to have them paint on poster board… Guide their hands to write ‘I Love You’ and you will have a beautiful masterpiece to hang on the wall for the holiday!
Toddlers can give the gift of flowers out of tissue paper as well. Give them a variety of colors and sizes of tissue paper so they can make different kinds of flowers for their loved ones.
Kids Valentine’s Crafts with Construction Paper
Crafts are so much fun for kids… and Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to let them go at it! Construction paper is one of the most versatile tools for Valentine’s Day crafts that kids will enjoy creating and family members will enjoy receiving.
First things first – start with a simple pad of construction paper. You’ll want to be sure the pad has white, red and pink sheets… as well as other colors too. The local craft store or even the dollar stare should have just what you need for the job.
Obviously the first project would be paper hearts… like I mentioned in my last post. Kids can use safety scissors to cut out heart tracings on a folded piece of paper. Let your kids draw big and small hearts out of red and white sheets of construction paper. You can even let them use those fancy craft scissors to give the hearts a unique edged design.
Red, white and pink are the usual Valentine’s Day colors… but, if your kids want to use other colors as well – let them! They are being creative… this is a great time to encourage their creativity. A blue or purple heart will be made with just as much love as a red one.
Kids Homemade Valentine’s Day Decorations
Kids are absolutely FULL of ideas when it comes to decorating for a holiday like Valentines Day! Here are some ideas for making homemade Valentine’s Day decorations for your home…
First things first… start simple. Stick to decorating just the main rooms of your home. You can give each child a ball of red, white or pink ribbon and just see what they decide to do with it. Ribbon is great to wrap around vases of flowers or draped over doorways. And, don’t forget to get a pair of scissors to run through the ribbon to create curls!
Last year I cut out a bunch of hearts out of construction paper and had them all over our craft table for the kids to do whatever they wanted with (within reason!). They made all sorts of fun Valentines… and some ended up on the top of the piano, on the window, the walls… fun! Let your kids stick them all over – whevever they can find a good spot. If you sit long enough, there may be a few attached to you! Bigger hearts can be taped onto walls and windows (make sure the tape won’t strip the paint!)… Or, you can punch a hole in the heart and put a string through to tie them onto things.
Get Your Tickets Here!
Tickets are so great for young children…
We started a new chore system for our almost 10 year old(called Accountable Kids… I’ll share more about it later – love it and it deserves its own post!)… and it is ticket based. Basically, our son can earn tickets for doing morning chores, afternoon chores, good behavior, etc… and the tickets can be exchanged for privileges (mostly screen time). We started the system with just our oldest… and it has worked so well that now my younger two (ages 6 and 4) are always asking if they can earn tickets. What is funny about it… they don’t even know what the tickets are for!
I love it when children are still in the stage where a ticket is enough of a prize! 
So, I was thrilled to find these tickets that Gingham Cherry is giving away – so cute!
Just think about the possibilities…
tickets for potty training
tickets to buy stuff from the ’store’
tickets for obeying
tickets for kindness
tickets for chores
tickets for game pieces
tickets for learning to count/math
… so many possibilities!
You can even let your kids set up all their stuffed animals in the living room for a zoo exhibit… and sell tickets to the zoo
What would you use these tickets for?
Does Your Kid Kitchen Have Menus?
This is the coolest idea… can’t wait to do this with my kids next week!
My younger 2 spend a lot of time preparing all sorts of concoctions in their little kitchen… it is pretty funny the different ‘teas’ they serve… or appetizers (which IRL would not be all that appetizing!)… their creativity is amazing — and this idea over at Money Saving Mom takes it a new level!
Money Saving Mom posted the cutest idea to make little menus for your kids kitchen — the kind THEY make Isn’t this a great exercise for them? They get to pick out foods they want to eat and include on their menu, layout the design, and set the prices. You could laminate the project for them too so they stand up over time.
Boredom Buster #2
We are continuing our series to help fight BOREDOM this summer… No more hearing ‘I’m Bored Mom!’ this summer with these fantastic tips. Do you have something add? Leave a comment and we’ll be sure to feature it in a future post.
Boredom Buster #2
Arts and Crafts Bin: Set a budget and hit the dollar store or craft store to build a bin of craft supplies. Take the kids with you and give them $5-10 to add to the bin things that interest them. Once a week, pull out the arts and crafts bin for them to create.
A few things to consider including:
- pipe cleaners
- wooden craft sticks
- stickers
- puffy paints
- fabric swatches
- felt pieces
- yarn
- ribbons
- scissors, glue, tape, etc.
- paper plates
- foil
- pretty papers (scrapbooking paper?)
Fun and educational toddler activities
Toddlers, ever going, never tiring and ultimately chaotic… so just how do you find enough activities to keep them entertained?
Toddlers aren’t old enough to entertain themselves or get involved in pretend play (without a little help), which means it’s up to you to keep them entertained and happy. The best activities for toddlers are fun-filled while still fully helping them developmentally.
So what are some fun but also educational activities for your toddler? The good news is that toddlers are fairly easy to entertain so there’s no need to go out and spend a fortune or turn your house into an amusement park.
Here are a few fun ideas:
Go for a nature walk – Educational yet lots of fun. Your toddler will love exploring and collecting different treasures to bring home. Point out big leaves to him or different colored plants or flowers. Collect opposites such as a small leaf and a big leaf or a small stick and a big stick.
Take your time and have fun. Don’t worry if you don’t live near a nature reserve or park. A simple walk around your neighborhood will be sufficient. Your toddler won’t mind and there will still be lots for him to see.
A Must Craft For Little Girls
Oh… I just can’t wait to do thiswith my daughter!!
I was poking around the blogosphere yesterday and came across a fun blog – Living Life Creatively – and was so inspired by this woman…
She had plenty of wonderful posts about her great hot finds at Hobby Lobby (SO WISH WE HAD THIS STORE ON THE WEST COAST!)… and the fun things that she is doing with her beautiful home.
The particular post that caught my eye was a craft she did with her two girls… they made beautiful Flower/plant fairies our of pictures of the girls.
You HAVE to visit her post to see how amazing these are… They are SO easy to make… and perfect for all sorts of ages!
Let me know what you think after taking a peek…
now, get going’! 
Save your Kid’s Handwriting… FOREVER!
This is the coolest!
I just stumbled on this little site that lets you create a font from your handwriting… it’s fun for us grown ups – think Christmas letters, Thank you cards… and no more tired hands from writing… But, what a cool idea to use this to capture your kids handwriting!! I wish I could take credit for this idea – but, read about it on Zoom In Design.
To create the font, check out Fontifier at www.fontifier.com
List of free or VERY inexpensive toys for your little ones
A friend of mine recently told me about a site that I have fell in love with… Simple Mom. I’m using some of her techniques to get things in order before school starts and can’t wait to report how they work for me. (In fact, if you have used some of her stuff – let me know how it is working for you!)…
Anyhow, the other day Simple Mom posted a great list of toys for kids that hardly cost a thing – and many are free!
Check it out here… you’ll be surprised of some of the great ideas an egg carton can be used for!
Forget the Pet Rock… How About An Entire Neighborhood!
Whenever we go camping we always bring paints with us so we can spend a couple of hours painting rocks… the kids love it…
So, I was thrilled when I saw GlitterGoods talking about creating a Rock Neighborhood! What Fun!
Paint a few houses, trees, bugs, cars, flowers, clouds and a sun and you have a very nice little neighborhood for the kiddos to play with.
Love it!
Freezer Paper T-Shirts… Aprons… or Anything!
You have to check these out… even if you aren’t crafty! I’m so excited to try making these with my kids this Fall.
This is Freezer Paper Stenciling – and what is so cool about it is that the freezer paper gets a bit sticky so it makes a perfect stencil for creating amazing prints on fabric. You could make T-shirts (like what is shown below) or cool prints on aprons, blankets, pillow cases/sheets… get creative!
If you do try these out, I’d love to hear about it – post a comment with a link to a picture of your creation so we can all oooh and ahhh over them
Check these out…
Panjo Kids has put together a very easy to follow tutorial to make these…
Enjoy!
THE craft making THE perfect gift for ALL occasions!
Yeah – that title is a pretty big claim for this craft… but, I think it’s true! After checking this one out – let me know what you think… have a cool idea to add? Please share…
Okay – now… onto this wonderful craft! Years ago, a friend of mine made this craft with her six children… they were amazing! They are basically little glass beads (like what you would find at a craft store) glued onto small pictures with a magnet on the back. But, don’t let that simple description fool you. There are so many ideas you can do with this… and ‘Not Martha’ not only shows you how to create these things – but posted plenty of pictures too! I love the suggestion of making little pictures of your family growing up – then giving the set as a gift to mom and/or dad… or other family members. There are so many ideas you can do with this – I really want to know what you think. Take a look… (’Not Martha’ calls them Marble Magnets) then, come back and share your creativity!
Learn to make beautiful Christmas Wreaths!
I’ve started to get to know a wonderful lady who makes the most amazing wreaths! She sells them on her website – but, better than that – she teaches you how to make them too! Nancy demonstrates in an exciting and innovative way the art of wreath design. She started wreath design 20 years ago and has an incredible gift. Check out Nancy’s Ladybug Wreaths and her ebook and CD’s here.
Gotta Get A Moo!
One of my favorite bloggers – Wendy at www.emomsathome.com – introduced me to these very cool… totally adorable… mini-cards. I’m gonna get a few for business cards – but, I am thinking about putting the kids on a bunch and inserting them into Christmas cards this year too! The possibilities are endless if you get creative with them… They are a MUST see for $19.99 / 100 – but, if you sneak over to Wendy’s blog, she has worked out an incredible deal with moo!
I’d love to hear your ideas… how are you going to use your Moo?
Craft: Learn to make Butterflies with your kids
Balancing Butterfly
What You Need
- Empty Cereal Box
- 2 small coins (pennies or dimes)
- Toothpick
- Glue
- Markers
How To Make It
Draw the shape of a butterfly on a piece of card (make sure that the wing tips at the nose end are big enough to mount the coins on and that coins position will be well below the nose. This is what lowers the center of gravity and enables the butterfly to balance. Also make sure the picture is symmetrical so that it has equal balance).
Once your shape is drawn place the card on top of another piece and cut out the shape so that you have two identical butterfly shapes.
Glue or tape the coins in place.
Glue or tape the tooth pick on so that the point is just protruding from the nose of the butterfly.
Glue the other butterfly shaped card on top to hide the balancing coins and cocktail stick.
Color and decorate you butterfly.
Source: http://www.kinderinfo.com
