Valentine’s Day cards! They are so much fun to give out and to receive. What’s even better is to have your toddler make their own Valentine’s Day cards to add their own personal touch to spread the love!

This is technically Remy’s second Valentine’s Day, but last year, he was so little for his official first one and he wasn’t in daycare yet. Now, he has lots of teachers and girlfriends to celebrate the day of love with, so it was time to have him make his own cards for each person! These DIY construction Valentine’s Day cards are super cute and sweet and they let your little one get “toe”-tally involved. ???? Plus, we were able to use some of Remy’s shaving cream art from last week that added such artistic character!

Materials:

-Toddler

-Non-toxic, washable paint in yellow

-Paintbrush

-Construction Paper

-Markers/Crayons

“Step” on it

The first “step” is to have your toddler make a footprint on each card. To prepare for this ahead of time, I cut each piece of pink construction paper into quarters in advance. That way, they would all be lined up when it was time for Remy to get to work and we wouldn’t be scrambling to get the next card while a toddler squirms around with wet paint on his foot. Once I had the paper cut in fours, I sat Remy down in his high chair and let him have fun painting his own artwork. This occupied him while his dad and I worked on getting his footprints on each card.

TIP: Use an empty egg carton for a paint pallet! You can reuse and toss when it gets to gunky.

Using a paintbrush or sponge, paint a thin layer of yellow paint onto the bottom of your toddler’s foot, then press firmly onto the piece of construction paper in a diagonal direction (as if the construction truck was climbing uphill). It doesn’t matter which foot you choose to use.

Set the painted piece of paper to the side to dry and move onto the next card. You’ll repaint the foot prior to stamping each card. Make as many cards as you like!

Express your artistic ability

Now that your little one’s hard work is done, it’s your turn! Once the painted cards are dry (they shouldn’t take more than an hour), it’s time to turn that footprint into a construction truck! Using a black marker, draw and fill in two circles for the wheels, two windows, and an exhaust pipe as shown below. It doesn’t have to be perfect, because come on, it’s still a tiny footprint LOL!

Then using a brown marker, draw the dirt with some texturizing lines. Color in the ground with the marker or crayon. Draw the bed of the truck on the side of the foot. Finally, draw and color in hearts in the back of the truck, either with one or multiple colors! I liked drawing some of the hearts falling off the truck to indicate that there is so much love to carry! ????

Personalize it

Finally, write “Sending you loads of love!” and sign your toddler’s name on each card! Personalize it by writing each person’s name. We used one of Remy’s shaving cream art creations from last week, cut out hearts, and wrote names on each one. We then glued it to the corner to make an interesting spin on the card!

These only took us about an hour or so to do and now we’re prepared for Valentine’s Day for Remy to give out these precious cards! We certainly hope each recipient LOVES them! What kind of cards have you made with your kids to give out on Valentine’s Day? I would love to see other wonderful ideas!

This blog post is a follow-up from our Sensory Valentine’s Day Art for Toddlers and will show you how to make beautiful Valentine’s Day decor using what your toddler just made using shaving cream and paint! You can also use any kind of paper you want!

I thought that the marbled paper that Remy made (yes! He actually made this!) would made a great background for a love quote to frame to either hang or place on our bookshelf! My husband recently got me these pens for my Cricut Explore Air 2 and I have been wanting to test them out to do some typography prints. I love that these pens come in so many different colors and in fine point to really get those details. Did you know you can even make coloring pages with these pens? I will definitely be making some for Remy when he’s a little older!

Materials:

-Homemade marbled construction paper (or any paper you like)

-Die cutting machine and accessories

Prep Materials

From the marbled prints that your toddler made, choose one that would look great with typography print. I wouldn’t use anything too busy as it may take away from the quote. Since the paper dried wavy from the paint, it did not want to lay flat on my Cricut cutting mat. It was vital that the paper did not move while the Cricut was writing, so I used painter’s tape to ensure that it was secure.

Using your die cutting machine software, design the quote that you would love to frame. I chose “You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I’ve ever had” from The Notebook. I love this quote because while it can be used as a romantic quote, it also applies to motherhood and our love for our children! ????

Because I have the Cricut Explore Air 2, I used Cricut Design Space and used one of the free fonts to type out the quote. I love the script font as it makes it more romantic!

Let the machine work its magic

Now it’s time to let your die cutting machine do the hard work! Simply load in your cutting mat with your marble paper and just push “go”! Watch as magic happens and quote is written before your eyes by your machine. The font I chose was actually thicker than what the pen allows for, so it only drew the outline of the letters.

But that’s okay! I figured that I would just be able to fill in the letters once it was done “printing”. This was very easy to do with a Sharpie. ????

Frame it

Once you’re done with your calligraphy quote, it’s time to frame it! Choose something that matches your decor or wherever you want to place it. I chose this sparkly frame that was a perfect fit for our bookshelf!

I love how this love quote serves as a reminder of how lucky I am to be a wife to my husband and mother to Remy! What do you think? Will you be making one of your own framed love quotes?

Ever since having Remy in our lives, holidays have gotten a lot more fun! Not only am I super excited to see his reaction to everything, such as food, lights, and decorations, but now I get to involve him in the arts and crafts project leading up to the holiday. Since Valentine’s day is right around the corner, it is time to brainstorm on a “lovely” activity for Remy to do to celebrate LOVE. I love to make all of our activities a learning experience to expose him to as many things as possible. Thus, we have our DIY Sensory Valentine’s Day Art!

This art project uses simple things from around the house and involves most of the senses: smell, touch, sight, and hearing. The final product would make a great Valentine’s Day card or decor! So gather all of your materials, prep them for your toddler, and sit back and watch the fun!

Time: 10 minutes or as long as your little one can stay entertained ????

Materials:

-Toddler

-Bib or apron

-Shaving cream (get this at the Dollar Store!)

-Shallow dish

–Non-toxic, washable paint

-Paintbrush

-White Paper

Gather and Prep Your Materials

Before you sit your little one down, spray the shaving cream into the shallow dish, making sure to evenly coat the entire dish. Then, take some of the non-toxic, washable paint and drop a few drops randomly into the shaving cream. Since this was a Valentine’s Day project, we chose pink, red, and purple! Remy was watching in awe as I was pouring the paint and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on it.

We dressed him in our favorite Ikea smock to keep the mess as contained as we could. Since the paint is washable, you can also do this outside with a naked baby if the weather is nice! ????

Time to be hands-on!

Once your shaving cream and paint is ready, hand the paintbrush to your toddler and let them have at it! They may be a little confused at what to do at first, but show them to swirl around the shaving cream, either with tools or their hands, whichever they prefer! There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Since this arts and craft project is also a sensory activity, I let Remy spend as much time with this step as he wants, adding more paint, if necessary. Sometimes the paint gets “too mixed” together and it turns a solid pink, so you can add more paint to keep the marble-y effect.

“Paint” the Canvas

Once the marble effect is perfected, it’s time to “paint” the canvas. We won’t be using a normal paintbrush to do this step. Rather, lay the piece of construction paper on top of the shaving cream and press down gently to transfer some of it onto the paper. Make sure to get the corners too! Peel the paper off slowly and use a paper scrap or cardboard to scrape off the excess shaving cream. Then all you have left is a beautiful marble pattern! Repeat this as many times as you would like with different pieces of construction paper or until you run out of shaving cream. ???? You’ll get a unique pattern each time!

Lay each finished canvas flat to dry. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so. Once dry, you have multiple marbled construction paper to make into a Valentine’s Day card or to use as part of other projects, such as framed Valentine’s Day wall art! Check back to see what we ended up doing!

This project can be repeated for any holiday or special event – just change the colors! For example, you can do green and red for Christmas or red, white, and blue for Independence Day! This sensory art project with shaving cream is simple, easy to set up, and tons of fun! You might find yourself swirling around the paint yourself! ????

What kind of art projects do you do with your toddlers? Would you try this shaving cream sensory activity? I would love to hear your thoughts!

This printable will make a great decoration for the nursery, home office, or bookshelf! And it’s easily customizable to any color schemes or your home decor – you choose the paint color! Best of all, it’s pretty simple to do. Just print out the free printable, paint your little one’s feet, and make a footprint!

TIP: Print out multiple copies so that you have back-ups, just in case a footprint is smeared or it didn’t turn out the way you like.

Time: 10 minutes

Materials: 

• Baby
• Free printable (print multiple copies)
• Non-toxic, washable paint
• Foam Paintbrush
• Baby wipes or wet towel

Subscribe to get your free printable!

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Gather all of your materials

You want everything within hand’s reach as much as possible. Once you plop baby down and they have painted feet, you don’t want to be moving around too much.

I couldn’t find our foam paintbrush, so I just used a flat paintbrush that worked pretty well. I do recommend the foam paintbrush, since it’s a little easier to spread the paint over your little one’s toesies!

I used Martha Stewart craft paint in “Wild Blueberry”. It’s non-toxic and water based so it’s safe for baby and easy to clean up.

Choose your location

Pick a place that is pretty open, away from fragile items or anything you don’t want paint on. I recommend doing this on a flat surface with an old sheet or towel covering the floor to protect it.  The paint is non-toxic and washable, but just in case. I used Remy’s splat mat on the deck, since it was a nice day. The only thing I didn’t account for was the wind, so I have some paint on my socks, but that’s okay.

Buckle down your budding artist

A high chair or a Bumbo works great for this. I used a Bumbo to keep Remy in one place, but it allowed his feet to be free to do the artwork! I stripped Remy down to his diaper, just in case!

Get to work

Have an assembly line of your printables. This way, once you paint your baby’s feet, all you need to do is stamp it and move to the next printable. I suggest painting one foot at a time. Once all of your printables have that footprint, clean that foot with a baby wipe and start again with the other foot, making a heart shape. Don’t worry about making it too perfect – it will be adorable just the way it is!

Don’t forget to sign your little one’s name next to “love always,”, using paint or a marker!

Let your printables dry – it shouldn’t take more than an hour. Then choose the best one and you have a great father’s day gift from your little one!

I found a frame from Michael’s that matched the blue footprint perfectly! No matter how you choose to present this footprint art to their father, I know he will love it! So subscribe below to get your free printable! I would love to hear from you and how you plan on spending Father’s Day with your loved ones!

Subscribe to get your free printable!

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