My favorite thing about
Valentine’s Day is all the fun
crafts and treats we get to make
with our kids. Kids love sharing
something they made themselves
with close family and friends.
Make a few of these projects
with your children this year and
hand them out to grandma,
grandpa, daddy and of course
their best friends from school
or preschool.
Coffee Filter Roses
Lay a basket shaped coffee
filter flat on some paper or wax
paper. Give your child some
water colors in pink and red and
let her color the coffee filter.
Allow it to dry completely, then
fold it in half. Fold it one
more time. You can cut some wavy
lines on the top of the filter
if you’d like. Use a green pipe
cleaner as the stem for the rose
and secure it around the bottom
of the folded coffee filter. Now
spread the top of the coffee
filter out to make the flower
shape. You can cut out leaf
shapes from green felt or
construction paper and glue them
on the pipe cleaner to finish
off the project.
Chocolate Lollipops
Melt some good quality chocolate
in a double boiler or in the
microwave. Don’t overheat the
chocolate or it will start to
burn. When the chocolate is
completely melted, pour it into
a squirt bottle with a large
opening. Spray some lollipop
molds with cooking spray, then
let the kids squeeze the melted
chocolate in the mold. Add a
stick while the chocolate is
still soft, then let it cool
until hard. Gently lift the
chocolate lollipops out of the
mold and wrap some cello around
them. Tie a little bow at the
end to keep the cello in place
and your chocolate lollipops are
ready to hand out.
Heart Shaped Cookies
Make a batch of your favorite
sugar cookie dough. Add some red
food coloring to it at the end
to turn it bright red. Roll the
dough out and let your kids cut
it out with heart-shaped cookie
cutters. Bake the cookies
according to your recipe’s
directions. Allow the cookies to
cool completely. Mix some
powdered sugar and milk to make
a sticky paste. You can turn
this glaze pink by adding a few
drops of red food coloring. Use
the back of a spoon or a pastry
brush to spread the paste on the
cooled cookies. Use sprinkles to
decorate these special
Valentine’s Day cookies even
more. After the powdered sugar
glaze is completely hardened,
put the cookies on a plate or in
a pretty bag and they are ready
to hand out.
Homemade Treat Bags
One of our kid’s favorite
Valentine’s Day gifts is a bag
full of little goodies. Of
course you could go out and buy
a pack of plastic baggies, but
it’s a lot more fun to make your
own. All you need is some small
paper bags and some red paint,
markers and stickers. Let the
kids decorate the bags. You can
also write the recipient’s name
on each bag. The kids can make
cute ladybug bags by dipping
their finger in red paint and
making red prints all over the
bag. Take a fine tipped black
marker to draw a line through
the middle of the fingerprint
and some dots on each side. Add
a small head, antennae and three
legs on each side. When the bags
are decorated, just fill them
with some small candies, or the
cookies and chocolate lollipops
from above.
Heart Shaped Cards
Of course you also need to make
some sort of Valentine’s Day
card. These heart shaped cards
are easy to make and look very
cute. Start by folding a piece
of red or pink construction
paper in half. Draw a heart
shape on one side, so that part
of one side of the heart is on
the folded edge. Cut out the
heart making sure to leave the
fold intact. Next it’s time to
decorate the card with little
hearts cut out of construction
paper, stickers and markers or
crayons. Don’t forget to write a
special message inside.
