This year my son is in kindergarten and I think we will make homemade cards for his class again this year. Valentines day cards are quite inexpensive, especially if you bought them on clearance after last year but I feel at this age the kids get a lot more out of making their own.
What you need:
- Heart shaped cookie cutter or make your own stencil on thicker paper
- Colorful scrapbook paper or construction paper or magazines
- Scissors
- Markers or Crayons
- Decorations; Stickers, glitter pens, sequins, etc.
Make a heart stencil by drawing a heart on some thick cardstock or cardboard and cutting it out- or if you have a precut heart/cookie cutter even better! Have your child place the stencil on some paper and trace. The hearts will be the card itself so make sure it is large enough and that you cut enough to make the needed amount of cards. I recommend making at least 5-10 extras for mistakes.
Have you child cut out each heart with your supervision.
Depending on your child’s age and appropriate level help them write the Valentines day messages with marker. When my son was in preschool I wrote Happy Valentines and I had him write the other child’s name and then sign his own name. This year I will write out Happy Valentines Day To: From: on a seperate piece of paper so he can see how to spell and have him write it all on the Valentines Day card. I do make lines for him to follow on the heart. One line for each word. Help your child with what they are capable of doing.
Have your child decorate the hearts with any craft supplies you have. I used foam heart stickers that I had from scrapbooking and never used. Some other great tools are glitter pens, pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners (attach with glue and frame the heart), crayons (as to not over the message), confetti. You can find all these supplies at your local dollar store for just a dollar!
I bought candy and little heart sandwich bags at the dollar store and had him fill each bag with one valentine and one candy. I ended up spending $2 total which I know I could have bought premade Valentines Day cards for but this helped my son practice fine motor skills, with drawing, cutting, and writing in a fun environment. Depending on the size of your class I would consider making it at least a 2 day project. Children have a hard time sitting and doing all this for 20 cards at one time.
*Alternative to scrapbook paper: cut out strips of pictures in pinks and reds from old magazines and make a mosiac by cutting the strips into squares and glueing on the paper.
Feel free to send/post any pictures of the cards your family made. I will post mine as soon as a I can.
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