Easy Valentine’s Day DIYs for Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Kindergarteners
February brings Valentine’s Day, and the love-liest day brings the opportunity to strengthen your bonds with your little ones with these sweet do-it-yourself activities!
Working on any project with your child is a great way to improve communication, increase creativity, and form new memories. Enjoy these activities with your little one as you share and take turns with supplies like paint and markers, try out new art projects like folding paper hearts, or create family-favorite works of art that you’ll hold onto for years to come.
To get started, share the love on Valentine’s Day by encouraging kids of any age to make Valentine’s crafts for others. We're also spreading the love with free Valentine's printables.
A Sweet Valentine’s Day DIY for Toddlers
Paint With Heart
For an easy and mess-free activity for your little Valentine we recommend cutting a heart shape out of a cardboard box. Then place a few dollops of different colored paint on it before slipping it into a large, clear, Ziplock bag. Attach the bag to a table, or your toddler’s high chair. Your little one will smoosh the paint with delight as they create their masterpiece in this sensory activity. Use cardstock if you would like to create these as frameable keepsakes.
Simple Valentine’s Day DIYs for Preschoolers
‘Sticking Together’ this Valentines
For a fun activity for the whole family to do on Valentine’s Day –– maybe after a few candy hearts –– use leftover stickers from Skillmatics’ Dot It sticker art activity to make lots of heart shapes. You can also make a game of this: parents can draw the heart and kids can arrange the stickers, or you can split up into teams to see who can draw and arrange the stickers the fastest!
No matter what crafty activities you end up doing on Valentine’s Day, encouraging your kids to get creative or making art with them is one of the greatest gestures of love there is! You’ll be thankful to have their artwork as a time capsule of memories for years to come.
Butterfly Candy Holders
These Butterfly Candy Holders are a cute and creative way for your toddler to share sweet treats with their classmates - or - if you’re holding off on the sugar this year, roll up a little note to each friend! Start out by safely cutting some butterflies with colorful construction paper: fold a piece of paper in half and cut a wide heart with a flat end instead of a point from the crease, then cut two small slits in the flat end to slide a lollipop or note through. Hand the paper butterfly over to your child, and let them express themselves by decorating its wings with markers or paint!
Fun Valentine’s Day DIYs for Kindergartners and Big Kids
‘Be My Valentine’ Rocks
For a fun twist on the classic Valentine, invite your child to create some keepsakes for the ones they adore with our Skillmatics Rock Painting Kit.Your child will simply use their thumbprints to create hearts on the rocks with red or pink paint. After the hearts dry, use black paint to turn them into heart people. From happy to silly, you’ll connect with your little one as you both consider what expressions to create.
Valentine’s Day Heart Cards
A lovely craft idea for kindergarteners is making Valentine’s Heart Day cards for grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, or family friends. Use our Skillmatics Marbling Magic art kit to make colorful, swirl designs on the paper. Next, fold a piece of paper into a card shape and cut out a few hearts of varying sizes from the front. After the paint dries, ask your child to write words like Mom, Dad, Grandma or Grandpa. When they’re done, paste the heart shape onto construction paper and gift it to the ones they love. This will be sure to be a keepsake for years to come.
Rainbow Heart Sun Catchers
One fun part of celebrating a holiday like Valentine’s Day is getting to decorate your home! Enlist your elementary schooler’s help with this endeavor by making these beautiful Rainbow Heart Suncatchers.
- First, assemble your foamy paint brushes, scissors, plastic sheet, Mod Podge, glue, and pieces of colorful tissue paper.
- Ask your elementary schooler to cut the tissue paper into small rectangles or squares while you spread some Mod Podge onto the plastic sheet.
- Next, have them arrange and layer the tissue paper before coating everything with a layer of glue using the foam brush.
- Once all of that dries, let your child safely cut a heart out of the plastic sheet, and tape it to a window so the sun comes through the tissue paper and shines colorful squares all around the room! Working on a project like this with your child not only helps both of you build trust in and communication with each other, but also allows you to have a beautiful piece of art to remind you of the time you spent together making it.
- Working on art with siblings also helps your kids practice sharing and working as a team, so let your tiniest Valentines try out this fun Heart Shake Painting project to reap the benefits and make something cool together. An older sibling can cut 10-15 small hearts out from pieces of different colored construction paper while a younger sibling can squirt a few different colors of paint into some tupperware.
- Then, once the lid is on tight, they can take turns shaking the container to coat the hearts in the mix of paints. When they’re done shaking, they can work together to arrange the hearts onto a piece of cardstock and glue them down for a colorful and collaborative work of art!
More Valentine’s Day Projects