Mess-free Valentine's Day crafts for kids
Coming up with Valentine's Day crafts for kids of all ages is pretty simple to do; however keeping the children and the workspace mess-free is the hard part. So many Valentine's Day crafts for kids or activities for other holidays as well require glue, glitter and other gooey stuff that parents and teachers regret why they came up with such an idea in the first place.
A completely mess-free Valentine's Day crafts for kids may be impossible because any place you have kids, something is bound to spill, break or get squashed. However, you can minimize the chances of too much gunk all over the place if you choose these activities:
Cut Out Card
You will need red tissue paper, cardstock and safety scissors for this Valentine's Day craft for kids. Trace out a large heart template on cardstock and cut our (or help the children cut out) the template on the red tissue paper. If the kids are too little and cannot handle the flimsy tissue, they can use construction paper. However the effect looks better when it is on the somewhat translucent tissue paper.
Fold the heart into half and let the children cut out squares, circles an triangles on the seam. When you open it, you'll have a beautiful cut our heart with intricate details inside. And the best part is, each kid's Valentine's Day craft will be unique as they will have made their own designs. Mount the heart on cardstock of a different color and let the children decorate with gel pens and silver and gold markers instead of glitter glue and messy supplies.
I Love You Book Marks
Give children various magazines and ask them to cut out one 2 x 2 picture of anything they love. It could be a color, a cartoon character, a food, a dress. Then paste that picture onto a cardstock strip. Cut around the picture so that it is not a plain rectangle any longer. Decorate the blank portion of the cardstock with stickers or pre-glued foam shapes for minimal mess.
Encourage the children to write a Valentine's message on the back of the bookmark and give something useful to their parents for Valentine's Day.
Heart Pin
Get the children heart shaped cut outs to decorate with various supplies. Place the finished shape between contact paper and cut out so it looks laminated. Attach a safety pin on the back and let your child wear his creation home without his backpack getting dirty.
