Valentine's Day Arts And Crafts Projects - "Heart-y Animals," "Mouse Kiss," and more!

By Anne Clarke

For this fun and easy Valentine’s Day art project, all that you need is some different colors of construction paper, safety-scissors, glue, and maybe some googly eyes.

First of all, teach your students how to cut out a heart. The best method is to fold a piece of paper in half, and then cut out a slanted “J” shape on the fold. Unfold the paper, and you have a heart! Of course, this is only the beginning of the craft. Have your students cut out as many hearts, of different sizes and colors as they can (to their heart’s desire, so to speak).

Now, have your students take those hearts and see what sorts of animals they can make out of them. For instance, students can take lots of small hearts and glue them all together, one on top of the other, in a line (wiggly or straight), and they have a worm. Take two giant hearts (with smaller hearts glued to them for added decoration) and glue the points of the hearts to either side of the “worm,” add some antennae, and they have a caterpillar who has just turned into beautiful butterfly.

A heart folded in half makes a great body for a mouse. Two sideways hearts of different sizes, points together make a great body and tail of a fish. Two upside down hearts, one stacked over the point of the other, make a great head and body of a cat, dog, or another animal. Spice up your Valentine’s Day crafts with a pair of googly eyes. See what your students can come up with. It is amazing how creative they can be!

Valentine's Day art projects and crafts – VALENTINE’S DAY CARD BOXES

· Friendly box Valentine card holder

o To make this Valentine’s Day art project, you need a box (preferably a shoe box or a box of that size), some colored construction paper, cardboard, scissors, and some glue.

o Have an adult cut a clot in the box lid for the Valentine’s Day cards to be inserted through, and then wrap up the box in colored paper.

o Cut out an animal’s head and shoulders from the construction paper and glue it to the piece of cardboard. Add a fun face to the animal. Now glue the animal to the back of the box, with the face facing towards the front.

o Gut out some arms for your animal and have them wrap around the box, so it looks like your animal is holding or hugging the box.

· Paper plate Valentine card holder

o You need: two paper plates, a hole punch, yarn, and markers.

o To make this Valentine’s Day craft, first decorate the bottoms of your paper plates how ever you want.

o Next, put your two paper plates together (tops facing in).

o Take your hole punch and punch holes every inch or so along the edges of the paper plates for ¾ the circumference of the paper plates.

o Take the yarn and weave it in and out of the holes, “sewing” the two plates together.

o The slot left at the top is where the Valentines can be inserted.

Valentine's Day art projects and crafts – POEM PUZZLE

Have your students cut out a large heart from a piece of heavy paper. Next, have them write a fun Valentine’s Day poem on the heart for one of their classmates. Have them decorate the heart however they want. Then, have them cut up their hearts into 10 or so puzzle pieces and give the heart to a classmate and have them put it together. This is a fun idea for a Valentine’s Day card, as well.

Valentine's Day art projects and crafts – MOUSE KISS

This is a fun, cute, and sweet Valentine’s Day craft. Have your students cut out a small pink heart, then glue 2 Hershey kisses to the heart, one on each side. The top of the heart makes the mouse’s hears. Leave in the Hershey kiss paper in the back heart to act as the tail. Take it out of the front Hershey kiss. Use a very small pom pom to glue on as the nose, with thread whiskers beneath it. Glue googly eyes on either side of the nose. Voila! You have a mouse kiss. Just be careful with the glue – do not use much and make sure that glue touches only the tin foil and not the chocolate. Messy mice should only be looked at and not eaten.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on holiday arts and crafts, please visit Homeroom Teacher.

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For more on Valentine Crafts, see www.bestguidetocrafts.com.