Celebrating Valentine’s Day with your kids can be a fun way to encourage them to be thoughtful and kind to their classmates and friends. One way to do this is by making some handmade crafts to hand out to their classmates instead of cookie-cutter valentines you would buy at the grocery store. While these are definitely a convenient option, if you have some time before Valentine’s Day, this handmade option would be so much more meaningful and encourage your child to think of each of their classmates individually. With that, here are some of our favorite hand-made valentine ideas!

My Heart in My Hands

This sweet craft involves tracing your child’s hands and cutting them out of cardstock. Then, cut a heart out of craft paper so they can write a note inside. With a glue stick, secure the heart inside the hands, and fold it in half.

Valentine Balloon Craft

This cute craft involves red paint, an empty toilet paper roll, white cardstock, and a cutout photo of your child. Simply fold the toilet paper roll to form a heart shape, dip it in paint, and create a cluster of heart-shaped balloons on the page. With a glue stick, secure the cutout photo of your child to the bottom of the page. When the paint is dry, draw strings with a pen or crayon to connect to your child’s hand, and voila! You have a super cute handmade valentine.

Watercolor Hearts

This simple craft involves watercolor paints and a big brush. Using cold-pressed watercolor paper cut into 4×6 cards, saturate your paint in water. Once your paint is saturated, use a big brush to paint a heart or pattern on each card. Once the paint is dry, add a message on the other side!

No matter what you do to celebrate, a hand-made craft and note is a sweet way to teach love and empathy to our kids for those around us. This holiday is such a fun opportunity to celebrate friendship and familial love! We wish you a very happy Valentine’s Day.

XOXO, Planet Kids.