A few Valentines Ideas

I am always trying to find interesting arts and crafts for my toddlers. It has been a bit of a challenge to make it work sometimes as I have been used to working with preschoolers and I had never really had to think twice as to is it safe? are they going to eat it? how much of my help are they going to need?

Here are 3 ideas that were done for valentines day in my toddler classroom (18 months to 30 months old) this year. This projects were originally design for my preschoolers but can be modified for the toddlers. 

We made the parents a valentine. I had a heart cut out on thick card board so it could last through all the cards. Each toddler got a chance to use the "dot-a-dot"  art bottles and were able to successfully feel in the heart. I wrote the I and the U. In the inside the kids "wrote" their parents a note. If you have older children you can have them draw the heart on thick card paper, then push pin the heart out and for a challenge I saw the hear being filled in "dot by dot" with a q-tip and paint (it looked so beautiful!!) I will try to find the link again and share it.

For their valentines gifts to mom and dad we made "candy dishes" that can also be used for paper clip holders at the office, or paper weight :). My assistance and I pre-made the heart shape dishes. Then we had the kids pick between red, pink, or purple tempera paint to paint their hearts. We then put some valentine m&m's in a bag to place on their candy dishes.

 

Here is how the craft clay is made: 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of flour (800 g)
• 1 cup of salt (200 g)
• 1-1/2 cups of water 

Art Process:

1. Combien the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pout in one cup warm water. Mix the dough withy our hands.
3. Add more water adn continue mixing. The dough should not be crumbly or sticky, but should form a ball. 
4. Knead the dough on a floured board until smooth (about 5 minutes. 
5. Work with a small portion of dough at a time. Make your desire shape.
6. When a sculpture or object is complete, the adult places in a foil covered baking sheet and bakes at 325 degrees one hour or until hard. Dough should not "give" when tapped with a knife.

We have used this craft clay for many things in the classroom. The kids made tree ornaments for Christmas gifts.

Making the Craft clay can be fun for the toddlers to be part of and making their own shapes as well. I picked to do all the shaping this time just because we wanted to have heart shaped candy dishes. The preschoolers made candy dishes for fathers day an they were able to make their own bowl shapes.



Last but not least ... Here are the valentines I made for the children. I had read on a blog awhile ago how to make a crafty project with broken crayons that you don't know what to do with anymore and some of the children refuse to use because they are "broken." I finally got a chance to do this.

Step one: Peel crayons and break to desire size.

Step 2:Place in cookie or muffin tin... I purchased this heart shaped but you can do this with any tin.

Out of the oven. Heat over at 250 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool.

Final product :)