Hearty Heros!

Cupid isn’t the only one who flies around making people fall in love! How about a Valentine’s fairy? Or perhaps a Valentine’s superhero? February is heart month, so help the kids spring into action with some Valentine’s inspired playtime props:

Superhero Wrist Bands:

Supplies: toilet paper roll, aluminum foil, scraps of coloured paper, fabric or ribbon, glue

Directions: Cut toilet paper roll in half cross wise, creating two small cuffs. Snip each cuff vertically, so that child will be able to slip cuff onto wrist. Cover each cuff in tin foil. Cut paper or fabric into stars, hearts, lightning bolts, or other superhero symbols (such as child’s initials) and glue onto cuffs. Let dry, and then let the games begin!

Heart Tipped Fairy Wand:

Supplies: wooden dowel or old wooden spoon, cardboard (e.g. from cereal box), red or pink paper, ribbons, packing tape, glue

Directions: Cut heart shape from cardboard. Lay dowel on heart so that one end is at the centre of the heart, making a handle coming down from tip of heart. Secure in place with packing tape. Glue ribbons to bottom of heart shape to create a ribbon fringe. Cut two identical hearts out of red or pink paper, making hearts slightly larger than cardboard heart. Cover both sides of cardboard heart with the red or pink hearts, pinching edges together to secure around cardboard heart. Let dry.

Made with Love for Valentine’s Day

Help your child create one-of-a kind unique Valentine’s Day Cards with our exclusive Valentine Card making kits . Choose a class pack of 24 mini cards for your child to give to classmates, or standard size cards (packages of 8) to send to close friends and relatives. A crafty way to make Valentine’s Day just a little more special! Check our card selection here .

Have A Laugh!

Not only is laughing a lot of fun to do, but it’s proven to be good for your heart. Your heart rate increases with laughter, and then dips below normal when you stop, giving your heart a workout. And did you know that kids laugh about twenty times as much as adults? That’s 20 giggles for every one of our chuckles. So, get a little crazy with the kids this month, and get laughing! .

Kitchen with Kids – Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

A little bit of (dark) chocolate is good for the heart, as is the fibre provided by delicious red strawberries. Try this simple Valentine’s treat with the kids! .

Strawberries, washed, but not hulled
• 2 oz semi-sweet bakers chocolate, chopped up, or chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons milk

Melt chocolate in microwave; add chopped chocolate and milk to microwave safe bowl, and heat for 30 seconds. Let stand for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave slightly longer if necessary. When chocolate is melted, cool slightly, and dip strawberries, letting the kids hold them by the hull. Tip: if you prefer to remove the hulls before serving, use corn picks to hold the strawberries for dipping.

Simple Science- Geometry Lesson

Cut several pieces of paper into squares and circles. Can you use the pieces you have cut to make a heart? Note: Pieces can overlap. Use a heart template to make it a little easier for little ones to see what they’re striving for!

Five Minute Fun – Folding Heart Card

Make a quick Valentine card with your child by folding a piece of paper in half and cutting a heart along fold line. Open your heart and decorate with crayons, markers, stickers, and other embellishments. Let dry and then close the heart card, pop it into an envelope, and send it to someone special.

Stick to My Heart

Planning a party this month? Try playing pin the heart on the human! Draw an outline of your child, and draw a heart in the location of the real heart. Give each child a heart stick to the human. Blind fold the child, spin them once or twice, and lead them to the picture, giving them a chance to stick their heart to the picture. Get as close to the real heart as you can! If you need party crafts, check out our supply here

1. Heart on a String

The picture says it all:

Kids Craft For Valentines Day Heart on a String

2. I Dig You Valentine

This one would be great for little boys in particular! Use blue or green hearts instead of pink or red if your little guy prefers. We made a black shovel, but your kids might choose a brighter colour similar to the bright plastic sand shovels every child owns.

You will need two colours of construction paper, glue, scissors, and a marker,crayon, or pencil crayon for this craft.

1. Make the scoop of your shovel – from black construction paper, cut a rectangle. Trim the rectangle so that bottom edge is slightly wider than top edge. Fold top and sides over to give your shovel some dimension. To do this, fold the edges, snip the intersecting corner, and glue edges together.

2. Make your shovel handle – cut a long thin rectangle from construction paper. Fold it in half to make it appear thicker. Fold the end of the rectangle over to glue to edge of shovel scoop

3. Cut out a heart in the same colour as your shovel to make the top of your handle. Glue heart in place

4. Cut out a heart in contrasting colour. Write the message ‘I dig you Valentine’ in the heart. Glue into scoop part of the shovel

Tip: to simplify, simply draw a shovel shape and cut it out in one piece, omitting folding for dimension. This could be good cutting practice for little ones!

3. Frilly Fancy Heart Valentine Card

You will need cardstock or construction paper, one piece of facial tissue, scissors and glue for this craft

1. Cut a large heart shape from your cardstock or construction paper

2. Fold facial tissue in half and cut a small heart along fold line. Glue to centre of large heart

3. Cut another heart shape around space where small heart was cut, and discard. Then cut a third heart shape around the space, making it bigger than smallest heart but smaller than your large construction paper heart. Glue onto card

4. Make your frilly edge – tear strips of facial tissue. This is easy to do by folding the tissue along it’s natural fold line, and then tearing from fold towards open edges of tissue. Once you have several strips, make a line of glue all around your large heart edge. Place end of one tissue strip along glue line, and then push the rest of the tissue onto the glue line. Continue pushing tissue strips onto glue, making a frilly edge.