Directions: Turn your toilet paper roll into a little man by adding googly eyes, glitter glue nose, and heart-shaped mouth. Add a hearty bow tie by gluing the points of two hearts together, just below the mouth. Add ears by folding two hearts in half, and gluing the back-side of the hearts into ear position – the hearts will fold out to create flappy ears. Punch holes in toilet roll using end of pen or pencil, and insert the pipe cleaner arms. Make hands by gluing two hearts back to back, catching the end of the arm in between. Lay the ‘feet heart’ flat and stand the Hearty Man over the point, gluing to create two feet. Finally, make hair by bundling the 5 rolled tissues, stuffing into the top of the toilet paper roll, and fanning out to make ‘bed-head’ hair.Note: Turn you little man into a super hero by cutting a heart-shaped cape, adding the crafter’s initials, and gluing the tip of the heart cape to the back of the manBefore Mass-Production Step back in time this year and make handmade Valentine’s cards. The tradition of giving Valentine’s Day cards dates way back to the Middle Ages. At that time, Valentine’s wishes were sung or read as poetry. Written letters and cards slowly replaced the spoken greetings. Hand made cards were often created using coloured paper, watercolours, inks, lace, and ribbons. Mass-produced Valentines were introduced around 1850; today there are roughly 1 billion Valentine’s cards sold every year.Word PlayNeed some catchy phrases for Valentine’s cards? Take a look at these classics (from those early 1800’s Valentine’s): “To My Valentine”
“Valentine’s Greetings”
“Happy Valentine’s Day”Want to spice it up a bit? Choose a kid-friendly theme to say it all, or be inspired by our Construction or Critters themes:“I Choo Choose You” (Train)
“You’re the Write Type” (Book)
“You’re a Hoot” (Owl, from Critters Kit)
“I Dig You” (Excavator, from Construction Kit)Five Minute Fun- Heart Shaped MessagesMake mundane tasks more fun by decorating cleaning supplies with heart-shaped labels. The kids can cut out hearts (or you can help them) to decorate and affix (with supervision) to dish detergent, laundry soap, or even the vacuum. The next time you put yourself to work, you will see their testimonials of love and smile!
February is Brought to You by the Colour….RED does double duty this month; the Chinese New Year begins on February 7th and is celebrated with an abundance of red – Dragons, Lanterns, and red envelopes of ‘lucky money’. Valentine’s Day means hearts a plenty, and what better colour than red? Get out the red paper and the scissors, and try these fun February crafts: Chinese New Year Lantern:Supplies: Construction paper, scissors, tape, decorating supplies (such as crayons, markers, stickers, glitter glue, etc) Directions: Use decorating supplies to create abstract design on your paper. Fold the paper in half length wise, and draw cutting lines that are 2 cm apart, starting at folded edge, and stopping ~ 2.5 cm from open edge. Cut along lines, making sure to stop at stop line. Unfold the paper and match short ends together, taping in place to create a lantern. Add a handle by cutting a strip of construction paper and securing with glue or tape “Bed-Head” Hearty Man
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Stick the twigs to the tape, covering and open spaces with small bits of twig or other finds from nature (such as dried grasses, dried leaves, etc). Tip: an adult can help by holding the can while kids press the sticks on. Wrap a ribbon around your finished can to secure sticks, and tie a bow to complete.