Want to make a Valentine’s Day card with your toddler, but not sure where to start? Whether your toddler is into traditional hearts, flowers, or even dinosaurs, we have some great ideas for you. So read on for some inspiration for 14 ideas of how you and your toddler can have lots of fun making a Valentine’s Day card together.
Looking for fun activities with your baby or toddler?
There are thousands of classes and groups on Happity. Find one you’ll love here.
Do I Need To Make My Valentine’s Day Card At Home?
Absolutely not. You will often find there are regular toddler classes with a Valentine’s Day theme – particularly messy play. If you attend a nature or outdoor group, you may find an opportunity to make cards using natural materials like twigs and leaves. Check here to see what’s on near you.
Some museums do art sessions, particularly in half-term and the lead-up to special occasions like Valentine’s Day. So check locally for what your local museum has to offer.
Equipment – how to make a Valentine Day’s Card with your toddler
All these cards for Valentine’s Day use just a few craft supplies. You will need four main items:
- child-friendly scissors
- A4 card – folded in two to make a card shape
- coloured pencils or wax crayons
- glue (glue stick for less mess)
Optional Extras
- coloured paper
- toddler-friendly paint
- cotton buds or paint brush
- bits of felt, sequins, shapes – whatever craft supplies you have lying around
Heart-Themed Cards
These simple cards for toddlers all involve a cut-out heart shape which you then encourage them to colour/decorate/snip.
In addition to the equipment above you will also need:
- a heart-shaped template or two
Play-Doh or cookie cutters are ideal. If you want a larger heart, try drawing one freehand onto a piece of cardboard and then cutting it out. Here at Happity we love reusing bits of cardboard from cereal packets and pizza bases to save money and be a bit more eco. You can make both sides of the heart exactly the same by folding the card in half first, then cutting it once. Open up and voilà.
1. Heart Silhouette/Peek-A-Boo Heart
If your toddler is into colouring, look no further than this heart silhouette for a Valentine’s Day card. This heart silhouette is so easy and needs very little preparation. First, draw round your heart-shaped template. Then (and an adult needs to do this bit), cut out the heart so you have a heart-shaped hole.
Your toddler then simply colours in the space left by the heart so when you open the card, you not only have a cut-out heart shape but also a coloured-in heart.
2. Handprint Hearts- Valentine’s Day Card Activities With Your Toddler
For a handprint heart card, your toddler simply dips their hand in some paint and presses down on the card. Once you have a hand print, you can draw a heart shape round it, decorate it with little hearts – or simply leave it as it is!
3. Decorated Heart
For a decorated heart card you just need a large heart either drawn or cut-out and stuck from a piece of card or paper. Give your toddler the pencil crayons and see what they draw on the heart. For extra sparkle, give them some little sequins or sticky shapes to add. Let their imagination go wild! If your toddler is into making collages, try bits of felt, tissue paper, or even leaves.
4. Frilly Hearts – Valentine’s Day Cards
If your toddler loves snipping and is beginning to develop dexterity with scissors, try out these frilly heart shapes. First, draw round and cut out some heart shapes using your template (your toddler can try this too) on red or coloured. Then get scissors and cut small cuts round the edge of each heart. If you have any crafting scissors, these can give a nice patterned finish as well. Finally, mount the hearts on your A4 folded card
5. Nature Heart – Valentine’s Day Card With Your Toddler
For a nature heart, use any bits of twigs, stones, petals or leaves your toddler may have collected. Start with a basic heart shape drawn on a piece of paper. Add glue, then arrange the natural materials on the shape. Your toddler can have loads of fun arranging bits of the natural world to make a truly unique card.
6. Sticky Hearts
A sticky hearts card is for those toddlers who absolutely love pasting and sticking! First, cut out as many heart shapes as you want (you can do this while your toddler is using the glue). If you want to use different shapes and sizes, go for it! Secondly, cover the front of your card entirely in glue. Now comes the fun part. Your toddler can simply stick hearts wherever they like on the card. Overlapping hearts, a few hearts, all the hearts – go with whatever they like!
7. Finger-Printing Hearts
You will need some washable paint or finger paint for this one. Get your piece of A4 folded card and dip your and your toddler’s index finger in the paint. By pressing your finger down two or three times – once to the left, once to the right (and possibly one at the bottom as well) – you can make some easy finger-print hearts all over the card.
8. Cotton-Bud Hearts
For cotton-bud hearts, take some paint and dip in the cotton-bud. Then your toddler can try painting round your heart templates to create lots of hearts on the page. Or you can go freestyle and just see what design your toddler comes up with. Use a traditional paint brush if you prefer.
Flower-Themed Cards
For Valentine’s Day cards with a bit of a flower theme, add some tissue paper to your list of basic equipment above.
1. Scrunched-Up Flower Cards
Take some small bits of tissue paper for your toddler to scrunch up into little balls. When you stick them in a random pattern on your A4 card, they will look like flowers about to bud. Your toddler can add stalks and leaves afterwards using colouring pencils or paint. Or you can use your heart template to stick the flowers within it.
2. Handprint Flower – Valentine’s Day Card Activities With Your Toddler
As you did with the handprinted heart, your toddler first presses their hand in paint to make a handprint (or two) on the card. Their fingers are the flower stalks. They can then decorate the stalks with hand-drawn flowers and leaves or bits of tissue paper. If you have any pre-cut shapes, you can also use these.
Bespoke Cards (Dinosaur, Animal…)
1. Flicky Paint Cards
Choose some colours you think would suit a Valentine’s Day card – maybe some bright reds, purples and pinks. The idea is to flick the paint using the brush and create an abstract and colourful mosaic of colour. Think splashes of bright flowers and Jackson Pollock.
2. Dinosaur Footprint cards
Who said dinosaurs couldn’t be for Valentine’s Day? For a truly original card to reflect your toddler’s personality, play around with dinosaur footprints. Simply dip the feet of a toy dinosaur into a bit of washable paint so your toddler can ‘stamp’ the dinosaur around on the front of the card. Chances are, this will make whoever receives the card really smile. See our toddler painting blog for more.
3. Stamp Cards – Valentine’s Day Cards With Your Toddler
Have some of those inkpad round stamps hanging round at home and never sure what to do with them? Now could be the time to use them for something creative with your toddler. Use a heart or flower-shaped stamp if you want to go with a traditional Valentine’s theme.
4. Spaghetti Cards
If you have any string, elastic bands or dry spaghetti in the cupboard, try dipping a bit in paint and swirling it around on the card. Your toddler should come up with some unusual and circular shapes. Another one which could look like an abstract heart.
Check out more toddler activities for Valentine’s Day here.
Want to get out and about, have fun with your baby or toddler, and meet other parents?
Search Happity to find everything that’s happening for the under-5s in your local area – from music and singing classes, to messy play, arts and crafts, baby massage, gymnastics and more. Simply enter your postcode and child’s age to search, and then book your spot in a few taps. Enjoy dedicated fun time with your little one, watch their skills develop, and make friends at the same time. Mums, dads, grandparents and carers will all find something to love!
If You Found This Post Useful, You May Also Like:
11 Quick And Easy Activities For Toddlers
0 Comments