Valentine Crafting for Kids
We had a snow day this week! As a teacher, that’s always welcome – as a parent it’s a bit of a scramble to find things to keep my girl busy all day. I had a good feeling that this particular snow day was coming, so I tried to plan ahead. Art projects are always a good option! After working on some of my own projects on Tuesday, I put my leftover supplies (along with some others from our craft stash) together so that they’d be all ready for some Valentine’s Day crafting.
I started with this tray. It’s been one of my all-time-favorite purchases – it’s a heavy melamine, so I never worry about breaking it, the compartments all come out so it can be customized for whatever you want to put in it, and I can throw all of the pieces in the dishwasher. I use it for everything from crafts and movie nights to potlucks and barbeques! That’s not an ad or affiliate link, I just really love this thing and think everyone should have one.
When it comes to crafting, I’ve found that the open opportunity to use a wide variety of materials and truly create anything is far more engaging. This means that it keeps a child attention for so much longer! When I really want to make sure that craft time is a hit I throw in some supplies that I wouldn’t always make available. Here’s what I initially put out for our snow day projects:
There are a foam hearts, glitter and felt heart stickers, wooden hearts, sequins, yarn, and pom pom trim. After checking out the supplies, my daughter requested a few more things, so we added pipe cleaners, fake flowers, glitter glue, and bingo markers (she had a vision and NEEDED certain things). Would you believe that I forgot to take a picture of her finished product?!
Crafting was something that I absolutely loved as a kid. Learning to explore the ideas I came up with and figure out how to make them a reality is a skill that I use daily as an adult! I really see crafting as a lesson in problem solving and creative thinking, and I love seeing my daughter and all children work through these kinds of challenges themselves. It’s truly not about the end product, it’s about the work that goes into making it.
There’s still plenty of time before Valentine’s Day to share this invitation to create with your kiddos, what will they come up with?!
