Valentine, I Love You to Pieces

 

 

It’s really tough for me to find crafts for the boys that will keep them engaged and interested.  I had a craft at my son’s 1^st birthday last year and all the kids gathered around to do it.  I set them up with all the materials and directions then went off to do something else.  A few minutes later, I came back to find only the little girls at the party sitting and decorating their cowboy hats.  I looked to the left and saw all the little boys of the party had made their way back to the bounce house and were jumping all over each other.  I told my husband to take a long, hard look at the table of little girls calmly and quietly working on their masterpieces and then realize that that sight will probably never be one in our house with three little boys!  So, when I do some kind of craft with the boys, I have to make sure it’s messy, moving, or somehow involves trucks.  We managed to get all three in this Valentine craft.  Here’s what you’ll need:

Colored paper

 

Cut-out hearts and/or Doilies
 
Glue

 

Sequins, foam shapes or anything else to decorate with (this is totally optional)

 

The sequins I had were all different shapes, sizes and colors.  There was a bunch of hearts in there so that worked perfectly.  I put them in a bowl on the table and within a few minutes, the boys found them.  Another thing with doing crafts with my boys is that I never ask them if they want to do a craft – the answer is always “no.” BUT – if I put all the supplies out or even start doing it myself, they are totally interested.  Once they discovered the sequins, they were dumping them and sifting through them.  We talked about all the different COLORS and SHAPES (descriptive language concepts – yay!) that there were and I gave them a designated cup to put all the hearts in once they found them.  I gave the boys a few extra cups to just pour the sequins back and forth in.  They had fun just playing with the sequins and yes, it was quite a mess, but nothing that a dust pan couldn’t clean up (or my $15 dust buster that I couldn’t live without!!).

The boys then put their little fingers to work and started ripping the paper into pieces.  This was actually quite a challenge for both boys so I had to start the rip for them.  Anthony has also been working on cutting with scissors so he got some pieces that way.  Michael even held the paper for Anthony while he cut – it was so sweet!  We used our actions words RIP, TEAR, and CUT to talk about what we were doing.  I brought out the construction vehicles because I knew they would just love playing with them with the ripped paper.  After all the paper was SCOOPED and LOADED onto the dump truck, we drove it over to our gluing station. 

 

Anthony and Michael glued the ripped pieces of paper onto our cut-out hearts and doilies, and then added the heart sequins.  They came out even prettier than I would have thought!  This craft involved the boys using their fingers quite a bit – picking up the tiny sequins, ripping the paper, and cutting – which are all great for working on their fine motor skills.

Wanted to add one of my favorite Valentine's Day books for the little ones:

Where Is Baby’s Valentine?  By Karen Katz

 

I actually love all her books for toddlers.  They are great for working on prepositions, answering yes/no questions, and naming different items.  Michael loved this story and especially liked answering, “NO!” every time the story asks, “ Is Baby’s Valentine in the….? Behind the…?” Even Anthony can’t resist this story since it’s also interactive with flaps to lift on every page.  This book can also be great for building memory skills.  Each time we read it, we try and remember what is hiding behind each flap.