Everyone loves a handmade gift for special holidays, but it can be an overwhelming task to take on. Below are five super easy and inexpensive crafts you can tackle with your toddler to create those perfect handmade gifts for Valentine’s Day.
Toilet Roll Stamper
This one was incredibly easy to do, required very little supplies, and was fun for me and my 15-month-old. I will say, he couldn’t quite figure out how to hold the roll without squishing it, but it’s definitely a great activity for working on those fine motor skills. All you do is create a heart shape with a toilet paper roll (or paper towel roll), dip the ends in the paint (I used two colors to be a little extra), and then use it as a stamp. It’s definitely got me thinking of other fun shapes and materials I could try.
Directions: HERE
Handprint Boquet
This one is going to take a little bit more work on your end, but the final result is incredibly sweet. I love the idea of doing the handprints on a separate piece of paper and then cutting them out and gluing them to the final project. My son’s messy hands have ruined more than one project in the past. This craft is great for Valentine’s Day but is also perfect for spring … not that I’m counting down the days or anything.
Directions: HERE
Cottonball Painting
I am all for crafts that let your littles explore and play with different materials, which is why I think this one is so great. We usually have tons of cotton balls laying around, but were somehow out on the day I decided to do this activity. We improvised and used crumpled-up toilet paper. The (almost) 3-year-old I babysit helped me out with this one. I decided to use a canvas I had already painted some stripes on it for a little flair. We stuck with the same pink & red I’d used for the stamping project.
Directions: HERE
Scribble Heart Drawing
Not into painting with toddlers or don’t have any paint on hand? No worries! This one you can do with craft supplies you probably already have around the house. Use a little painter’s tape to create a heart (or any shape) and then let your little one scribble all over the paper with markers or crayons. Have them remove the tape if you want to get in some extra fine motor exercise. I would recommend using thicker paper so the painter’s tape doesn’t tear it.
Directions: HERE
Shake It Up Painting
I was most excited to try this one. As much as I love getting crafty, I don’t ALWAYS love the mess. So when I came across this activity it seemed perfect. I had just finished off a jar of PB so I cleaned it out really well and decided to use that as my container. This was a ton of fun and incredibly easy to set up and clean up. I definitely plan on doing this again in the future. I used some silicone beads and just threw them in with some pink and red paint. The end results were super cute!
Directions: HERE
