Well our LOVE week is here!  I broke things down by Valentine or “Heart” Kids Activities, Meals, and Desserts.  These are all fun and simple thing you can do with your family members this week and weekend.

 

Kids Activities 

 

Cotton Ball Painting

Materials: White Construction Paper, Cotton Balls, Clothes Pins (not needed), Paint

Cut out a large paper heart and tape it to a whole piece of paper.  You will want the heart to be taped down well and make sure the tape is on the back of the heart. You will want the edges of the heart to be clean.

Use a paper plate to add drops of paint to the plate. Allow the kiddo to dip the cotton balls into the paint then have them fill the paper with paint dots.  Allow them to focus on the outside of the picture and work their way in.  This is when the clothes pins can be added for kiddos with sensory or fine motor challenges.  You can use the clothes pin to pinch the cotton ball and use the clothes pin as a handle.

Before you are done you will want to make sure all of the edges of the heart have paint.  It will help make the heart outline clean when you remove it.  Once the paint dries you will want to remove the heart cut out and there will be a perfect painting with a heart in the middle! It would be a perfect Valentine for a family member!

 

Painting with Cookie Heart Cookie Cutters

Materials: Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters, Paint, Construction Paper (White)

Using white construction paper (or any scraps you have lying around) and your heart shaped cookie cutters.  We use them for everything during February! Use a paper plate and add drops of paint to the plate.  I used the colors pink, red and white (for most of the crafts.)  You can use any you would like.  For my daughter I modeled how to dip the cookie cutter onto the paint tray, then stamp it on the empty paper.  Continue until the paper is filled or the kiddo is done.  You could wait until the paint dries and cut it into a Valentine shape.

 

Sensory Baggies

Materials: Zip Top Baggies, Hair Gel (Pink), Heart confetti or foam pieces

Use zip-lock baggies, draw a large heart on the outside of the baggie (to use as fine motor practice) and add pink colored hair gel.  Depending on the kiddos age you can allow them to fill up the bag!  You can use beads, heart shaped confetti or sprinkles to add to the bag.  Once everything is added to the bag, zip the bag leaving little to no air then use hot glue to close the bag or a large piece of packing tape.  The goal is to get the objects into the center of the heart.  This is an activity I would do at a table to keep a close eye on the hair gel!

 

Watercolors with Hearts

Materials: White Construction Paper, White Crayon, Water Color Paint

On the white paper use the white crayon to create heart shapes.  These hearts will “show themselves” after the paint is applied to the paper.  If you have older kiddos you could allow them to make a valentine or message in the white crayon themselves.  Use the watercolors to paint the entire page.  The “secret picture” will show through.

 

Stick Color Match with Oat Can

Materials: Old Oatmeal Container, Pipe Cleaners, Permanent Marker (same colors as the pipe cleaners)

Add small holes into the lid of the oatmeal can (as seen below.) You will draw colored circles around the holes.  I used 3 different colors of pipe cleaners and 6 holes in the lid.  This meant I had 2 of each colored holes.  For preparing the pipe cleaners, I make them all different lengths (and make the ends less pokey) by bending over each end.  It makes a little loop at the bottom that I flatten.

I modeled for Lola how to match the colored stick to the same colored hole.  After she understood the process she was very focused!  Note: The picture below is just practicing fine motor development, NOT the matching colors.

 

 

Stacking/ Counting/ Sorting Candy Hearts:

Materials: Candy Hearts

There are a few activities you can do with candy hearts.  You can use paper heart cutouts to help learn/ explore sorting by colors.  You can use them to count.  You can use them to stack.  Stacking the candies can be a fun competition or game for a group of kiddos.

 

 

Meals

Pancakes with Beets (for pink coloring!)

We have not made these yet but I thought they looked fun and healthy! You really could use this recipe to add the pink color to any of your favorite pancake recipes!

 

Heart Shaped Pizzas

This was so much fun!  We bought all the ingredients we needed for a regular pizza from our local grocery store and just shaped the dough into a heart.  The dough we used was the “add water kind” so we were able to make it any shape that worked for us!

 

French Toast with Heart Cut-Outs

Ingredients: Heart Cookie Cutter, Bread, Eggs, Milk, Vanilla, Sprinkles

These are super easy.  Make your french toast dip like normal (eggs, dash of milk, and a drip of vanilla) then use a heart cookie cutter to cut out the middle of the bread.  You can use the middles (just the hearts) and the outsides!  The outsides are perfect for adding a little whipped cream to the middle or some strawberries! If you add a little festive sprinkles to the top they will be extra pretty & crunchy!

 

Heart Toast with Egg in the Middle

Ingredients: Heart Cookie Cutter, Bread, Butter, Eggs

Spread butter on one side of the bread. Use the cookie cutter to cut out a heart shape and add the outside of the bread to a heated pan with the butter side down.  Crack an egg into the middle of the bread (the heart) and allow to cook on low until firm then flip!

 

 

Desserts 

Strawberry Wafer Cookies Dipped in White Chocolate— Super yummy, cute and SIMPLE. Kiddos can easily help!

Rice Krispies Cut Outs— An oldie but always a goodie!

Jello Poke Cake with Strawberry Jello— This dessert is easy, light and delicious!  We made it last weekend & will make it again this weekend.  It is PERFECT for the spring/summer coming up as well.

Jello Jigglers (Heart Shaped)– Make red jello (extra from cake if you make it) and use heart cookie cutters to make jigglers when it is set.  I used the smallest cookie cutter I have.  They were perfect for toddlers!

Fruit Cut in Heart Shapes– Use a small heart shaped cookie cutter to cut fruit into hearts. They are adorable to display with grill skewers.  Fruit such as melon, cantaloupe, apples, and pineapple are perfect for this!  We are waiting for our pineapple to ripen up!  Lola is very excited to cut it open!

 

All for now! I hope these make your Valentine’s Week// Weekend much more fun and easy!  Tag me in them if you try them on Instagram (@Mama_VanDeventer)!  I would love to see them!

I have never been the Valentine type of a person but when you have a kiddo it gets a lot more fun!  She gets excited about the simplest things!  Makes life so much more fun.

I would love to hear ideas you have for Valentine fun!

XOXO,

Emilie