Friends, you know we love to craft and art and go nuts with the rainbows, but did you know we are absolutely cuckoo cuh-razy for HOLIDAY art? Christmas, Halloween, we even manage to go bananas for Turkey Day around here, but let's face it: there is one holiday that has a five star color palette AND packs a reason to bust out all the glitter and ribbon and stickers and washi tape and is, therefore, our ultimate fave. You guessed it! VALENTINE'S DAY!
My mom instilled in me a deep love of all things heart holiday from a very young age. That lady just loves love. She loves hearts and love notes and chocolate and flowers -- Valentine's Day was basically built for her! She throws a valentine party every year that every single member of our family looks forward to all year long. We play games and do crafts and exchange valentines and she decorates everything in her house floor to ceiling all red and pink and sparkly to the maxx 😍😍
So, anyway, I thought I'd throw together a quick list of our tried and true crafty fun favorites just in case you are looking to have one heck of a Heart Day, too! If you see something you like, just click the pic or the title and it will take you straight to the instructions. Some are from my brain and some are from the brains of my artsy + amazing buddies and hopefully they will ALL inspire you 😁 oh, and I included a party game that is always and forever THE BIGGEST HIT with the little humans at my mom's parties as a bonus at the very end of this post, so don't stop scrolling, homie!
This is one of those amazing art projects that is fun for every age -- baby to grandma. The paper behind the doily hearts is pretty. The doilies themselves are pretty. It's basically a Mary Poppins Valentine's Day art project (practically perfect in every way, ya know? 🤓)
BEEP! BOP BOOP! BEEP BEP SCHMERP! (Allow me to translate: "Gather the cardboard and valentine stickers! This is a good one!" 🤓) These guys took us a whole entire afternoon and we loved every single second of the process. After you add all the paint and decorations and glue them all together, you can pretend program all of their little buttons and put on love-bot puppet shows! Ours are still hanging on the schoolroom art line from last Valentine's Day because as Kinley says, "They are way too cute for the art box no matter what season it is!"
This one would make a great class party project. Low mess + big fun! Basically all you need is tempera sticks, cardboard and some yarn or string.
I have never met a kid who didn't love having free rein over the salt shaker and free rein over the salt shaker plus water to play with plus ice PLUS pretty paint?! Guaranteed good time. Make sure you freeze LOTS of hearts for this one -- we never have enough!
5. Valentine Rainbows
Kinley woke me up one morning with a sketch and a crafty dream and this is what happened when we made it a reality: valentine rainbows! Cute, huh? And super easy, too!
6. Concentric Watercolor Hearts
Kristian from @friendsartlab shared this project a couple of years ago and it has become a tradition around here. We can never make just one! Click the pic to zip right over to her original Instagram instructions 😁 (Also, if you have tiny humans to entertain or teach on the regular, you are gonna wanna hit the follow button on her Insta while you are over there! She is basically every kid AND parent's dream preschool teacher!)
7. Puffy Hearts
I will never have the words to properly gush over Art Bar. She is my hero and guru and she gives me heart eyes pretty much everyday ever -- LOVE LOVE LOVE! Anyway, these puffy hearts are just one of her amazing ideas. We did them on old Trader Joe's grocery bags with neon oil pastels and neon tempera cakes, but you should head over and see hers and get the full how-to -- just click the pic!
We just finished these and they were both super fun! Version one involves photo paper and process art and cutting practice and rainbowy watercolors and version two is oil pastels and fingerpainting and acrylic...how will you ever choose?! Or you could just try both 😉😉
9. Egg Carton Lovebugs
I just finished the instructions for this one! These guys just happen to be one of my fave holiday crafts we've ever done! Love when process meets craft, don't you?
10. Heart Prints
If you don't know Cassie Stephens, drop everything and run and find her on Instagram and YouTube and follow her blog! She is AMAZING and one of our ultimate favorite art gals ever. These heart prints or hers have been one of our favorite projects this year. Click the pic to go straight to her how-to YouTube video 😁
11. Heart Burst Paintings
Another ArtBar favorite! We haven't actually tried the heart burst version of this project of hers, but we have done the sunburst (circle in the middle) version about 400 times and the heart one is on the schedule for next week. SO FUN and they always turn out super gorgeous. PLUS #steamalert: they totally count as math!! 🤓
Click the pic to head straight over to Bar's instructions and read all about it.
I wrote all of the instructions for this one up for RedTedArt awhile back. The perfect bouquet for those with terrible allergies or people who would want to keep their Valentine's Day flowers for way longer than real ones would last (ahem...grammas 😉😁)
13. 3-D Love Bugs
Arielle is another one of my art heroes and if you are already following @artcampla on Instagram, you know why! She's one of the most creative people I've ever met and every project she posts instantly goes on our must list including these super cute and crazy sweet little love bugs! Click the pic to head over to her gorgeous blog for the whole how-to.
I was sitting up in the schoolroom this weekend putting together our homeschool schedule for the week and Kinley noticed these adorable little barley & birch pennant pins up on the computer screen and wanted to get out the stuff and get to work on them right that exact minute which is pretty much exactly how I felt when I saw them, too 🤓 Head over to get all the details straight from the totally awesome Amanda and take a look around her gorgeous website while you are over there, too. Girl's got killer ideas and printables for dayyyyyyys...
15. Sharpie + Watercolor Heart Art
One more ultimate favorite creative for you (I should really make a post of all of my favorite Instagram follows for you, shouldn't I? Stay tuned...): ALANA from @artfulteaching.joyfullearning! This heart project is just one of her bazillions of mindful, brilliant, totally beautiful ideas. While you are over checking out her instructions, make sure you look for her "Map of my Heart" project, too. She's even got a curriculum full of goodness, but more on that later!
YAY! You made it all the way down here! 🤓😁
My mom made this set for Kinley four years ago and we have played this game so many times I have memorized what each of the hearts says on the back...in other words, MAJOR big hit.
My mom made this set for Kinley four years ago and we have played this game so many times I have memorized what each of the hearts says on the back...in other words, MAJOR big hit.
All you have to do is cut a bunch of hearts out of card stock or poster board and add faces to the fronts and simple activities or questions on the back like:
- give someone a hug
- "What's your favorite color?"
- hop on one foot while singing the ABC song
- "Who is your best friend?"
- pretend you are a superhero
- "If you had to choose between a trip to Disney World or a trip to Legoland, which would you pick?"
- give someone a butterfly kiss
- spin around as fast as you can
- stomp around like a dinosaur
- "What is your favorite sweet treat?"
After you have all the faces and activities scribbled on, attach a paperclip or two to each heart so they will be able to stick to the magnet "hook".
If you have a magnetic fishing pole already from another game, you are ready to go! If you need one, just grab a yardstick or a dowel, attach some string (we used embroidery thread) and a magnet and you are ready to rock!
Well, that about wraps things up for the big round-up! I've got big plans to share a few more heart art ideas before the big day, so if you like these and want more, come back or sign up to get email alerts on the sidebar 😁
As always, if you try any of these ideas and post it on social media, please tag me (@raising.kinley) or the genius that came up with it. It's so fun to see your ideas out in the world making other people happy!
Happy hearting, homies! And a super happy love-filled Valentine's Day, too!
xoxo Cara
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