Top 5 Homemade Valentines to Make with Kids

The entire point of Valentine’s Day is to show people that you love them. What better way than to roll up your sleeves and actually put heart and soul into a gift? Kids are dying to be creative and show their love with art.

Instead of buying another box of precut valentines, encourage your children to put their real hearts into the action! Yes, this will involve more work for parents. But the act itself shows your love for your children—sit down with them and get busy creating!

Baby Feet Hearts

Who can resist?! Perfect for little ones who aren’t really crafty just yet, it’s a super momento and makes an awesome card for grandparents. Be creative and write a little Valentine poem next to the tiny feet. Bigger children will love to get their big feet into paint too.

Valentine Threaded Felt Bracelets

Super simple steps to make these special Valentines, your daughter will be the talk of the classroom when she hands these bracelets out. They will be so unique, it doesn’t even matter that it’s not a “card.” Complete with a little note if your child wants to leave her name.

Mock “Watercolour” Valentine

The result from this Coffee Filter Valentine is spectacular. The messier the colouring, the better the heart turns out with its watercolour effect for the Valentine Heart. This is a fabulous toddler project yet your older children will also create stunning Valentines as well. The element of surprise as the colours meld on each heart is contagious! You can glue these onto cards or address the card with names once it’s dry.

Real Watercolour Valentines

This is a fun technique and with 20 classmates, it’s time efficient! Watercolour painting naturally spreads and dries quickly and runs into beautiful colours. With heart shaped stickers attached prior to painting, there’s a resist technique which evolves when sticker are removed. Once dry have your children cut and glue squares of their watercolour onto small cardstock folded cards.

Valentines for the Birds

This idea isn’t exactly a “card” either but it’s a unique, useable gift that kids will love to hand out—it’s a heart-shaped bird feeder! Instructions to make the bird feeder are here but it's a fairly simple project with birdseed, suet and a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Attach with a string and deliver to your children’s best friends or hang around the yard to give the birdies a Valentine treat!

Remember, when you're covered in glue, Valentine's sparkles, birdseed and glitter hearts—ignore the mess! It doesn't take much extra time to make homemade tokens for friends, but it will make your children feel so extra special. And that's a Valentine gift.