Valentines Day Heart Craft

Craft Instructions for
The Basic Valentines Day Heart
(for those of you who might've forgotten!):

To Make Your Valentines Day Heart Craft, you will need:

• 1 piece of construction paper, any color
• Crayons, Colored Pencils, or Markers
• 1 Black Marker, Crayon, or Pencil
• Scissors, age appropriate for the cutter

Making a Valentines Day Heart Craft:

1. If your child is young, give him the construction paper first to color it to his heart's desire. You may want to help him or you may want to get your own sheet of construction paper to decorate to make your own Valentines Day Heart Craft as well.

Learning Suggestion: If your child is learning his colors, this is a prime opportunity to work with him. Ask him to give you certain colors and have him tell you what color crayon he is using!

2. After your child has finished decorating his paper, it's now time to turn it into a Valentines Day Heart Craft. Take the construction paper and fold it in half. Make sure the side your child colored is on the inside. If your child is old enough, he will be able to do this. If not, you will have to do this for him.

3. The next step to make your Valentines Day Heart Craft is to use your black marker and draw a half heart starting at the top of the fold and ending at the bottom.

4. Take the scissors and cut along the line of the Valentine. Do not cut the fold!

(Note: I am pointing to the uncut fold on the left of the heart. This is what your Valentines Day Heart Craft will look like just after cutting)

5. Open the Valentines Day Heart Craft and turn it over so that you can't see the black line you drew but the beautiful coloring your child did instead.

6. Write a message on the decorated side of the Valentines Day Heart Craft. "Happy Valentines Day" is a pretty good one. Also, writing something sweet like, "Little Johnny Loves Spot" or "I love Mommy & Daddy" would be wonderful notes for Valentines Day.

Learning Suggestion: If your child is learning his shapes, this is a good time for him to learn "Heart". Teach him to say "Heart", and whenever you see hearts when you go out, point them out and ask him what they are. Don't forget to ask him what colors they are as well. This is a good opportunity to learn "red" and "pink".

7. Make sure you display your child's work of art. Tape the Valentines Day Heart Craft on a door, the wall in his bedroom, or place it on the fridge. If there's a Valentines Day message for mommy or daddy, surprise them at work and give it to them to display at their office desk. These also make wonderful gifts for baby-sitters, grandparents, and godparents for Valentines Day!

Safety and Sanity Tips: If your child will be cutting the Valentines Day Heart Craft, be sure you use age appropriate scissors. If he's not ready to use scissors, you can give him a second piece of construction paper to color while you cut out his Valentines Day Heart Craft. This will keep him occupied while you're busy cutting and displaying. Be sure he sees you displaying his Valentine. This will make him so proud!