Cheap DIY Valentine’s Day Crafts with What You Already Have

This post is a part of the Fantabulous Valentine’s Day Favorites blog chain put together by a great group of bloggers. The theme this week is Favorite Valentine’s Day DIY and Craft Ideas. Be sure to check out all the great ideas shared at the end of this post! You can also link up any family friendly Valentine’s Day post you have on the linky at the bottom of this post!

Before Christmas, I asked a group of bloggers if they would like to do a Valentine’s Day blog hop together . . . and then I was the running behind and not getting a post together. I had planned to try to make up a printable; but. . . well . . . anyway — I didn’t have time.

So I dug out my Valentine’s Day craft folder from when I used to teach second grade and looked through to see if there were any easy crafts I could pass on to you. And there were quite a few. In fact, I didn’t have time to do all of them–so you’ll just have to come back next year to get the rest ;).

When I taught over 11 years ago, pinterest wasn’t around. So maybe these crafts will be ones that you’ve seen millions of times–yet maybe there will be something new to you!

• Tracing heart craft: 

  • Supplies:  paper, a heart cut out of paper or cardboard, crayons or colored pencils, marker (optional)
  • Steps:  
    1. Trace hearts on the paper with a pencil. Draw some bold lines across the paper (and through the hearts) either with marker or a dark crayon
    2. Color in the sections that are now made by the lines different colors.
    3. You can place a bigger piece of paper that is a different color underneath the masterpiece if you wish to.
  • Age level:  1-3 grade; older girls would enjoy this too.

• Chalk heart craft:

  • Supplies:  a red, bright pink, or purple piece of paper, different sizes of cardboard/cardstock hearts, white, light pink, or contrasting color of chalk
  • Steps:
    1. 1. Place heart on paper, and trace or color around the hearts.
       2. You can overlap the hearts, color in a “fireworks” kind of coloring where the chalk starts on our cutout heart and goes out on to the paper. (See the picture.)
  • Age level:  1-3 grade. My almost 5 year old could not hold the hearts very well and trace at the same time.

• Crayon hearts:

  • Supplies:  old broken crayons, heart cookie cutters, wax paper
  • Steps:
  1. 1. Have your children take the papers off of old crayons. I used brighter colors.
     2. Mommy does most of the rest. Place the cookie cutter on the wax paper. ( I put mine on wax paper that was on a cookie sheet.)  I had a plastic cookie cutter, and I found that if I sprayed the cookie cutter with cooking spray that it helped the crayon come out nicely. Melt the crayons in glass dishes in the microwave (a couple at a time–I used contrasting colors. I kept the colors in separate dishes.)  Pour the crayon VERY CAREFULLY AS IT IS HOT into the inside of the cookie cutter making sure the cookie cutter is firmly touching the sheet. Let it cool until it is hard. Pop it out of the cookie cutter.
     3. Let your kids color with the crayons!
  • Age level:  Adult to melt the crayons; any age child that won’t put crayons in his/her mouth can color with these!

• Paint hearts craft:

  • Supplies:  cookie cutter hearts, different colors of liquid tempera or fingerpaint, Valentine colored paper, glitter if desired, newspaper to go under projects while painting and drying.
  • Steps:
  1. 1. Pour paint of different colors into pie dishes or shallow pans. I used red and 2 colors of pinks. White would also be great.
     2. Have kids dip the cookie cutters into the paint, and then press the cookie cutter onto the paper.
     3. If desired, you can give them paint brushes and glitter and have them make a great masterpiece. When my children did this with friends this past week, I let them do the glitter and paintbrushes; but when I taught school, I only did steps one and 2.
  • Age level:  My 3 year old could do the paint part of this craft. All the children that did this (up to 6th grade enjoyed doing this, but the older children were all girls.

• Heart man craft (the most detailed craft):

  • Supplies:  Newspaper, stapler, scissors, paint, construction paper, and glue.
  • Steps:
  1. 1. Fold six double sheets of newspaper in half. Draw the outline of half a heart on the paper, placing the center of the heart on the fold and making it as large as possible. Keep the papers folded and cut around the half heart outline. (I just cut out one heart and used it as my pattern as I was doing two of these crafts.)
     2. Open up the stack of hearts, and staple the sides and bottom together.
     3. Separate the top of the hearts so that there are three hearts on each side.
     4. Stuff the inside with crumpled newspaper. (Kids can do this part.)  Staple the top of the heart closed.
     5. Make arms and legs for your heart by rolling up single sheets o f newspaper. Roll them the long way to make the legs, and the short way to make the arms. Staple them in place on the sides and bottom of the heart.
     6. Let the kids paint the heart. We only did the front, but you could paint the front and let it dry; then do the back and let it dry.
     7. When dry, cut out eyes from white and black paper and a nose and  mouth from pink paper. Glue them in place.
  • Age level:  With help, my preschoolers did this. Probably K-3 grades.

You can use the hearts below for the first, second, and the fifth craft if you would like to. Just click on the picture below to print out the paper.

Click on this picture to print. You could print “black and white” to save colored ink if just using for a pattern.

Interested in more fantabulous Valentine’s Day DIY or Craft ideas? Check out any of these posts by clicking on the links below! 
Creative K Kids –  Cheap DIY Valentine’s Day Crafts with What You Already Have

My Life Abundant –  Love Note Printables

Still want more? Head to our Pintabulous Mom’s Valentines Day Board!

We would love you to link up any Valentine’s Day post that you have. (They do not have to be craft/diy posts, but we would ask that it would be family friendly.)  Come back next week to see our favorite Valentine’s Day food recipes where you can link up again! We would love it if  you would like to get our button to remember to come back or to put it on your party page,  but it is not a requirement!

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