Valentine’s Day Craft for Preschoolers
Need a quick Valentine’s Day craft for preschoolers? Here’s a fun keepsake Valentine’s Day craft that won’t require too much cleanup.
I like holiday crafts that allow you to look back years later and reminisce about how little your children were. So, when I created this fun printable I knew I’d incorporate handprints. I also thought it would be a great idea to use thumbprints and little fingerprints too. My kids had a blast.
I enjoyed this craft knowing there would be very little cleanup involved. To be honest, it’s so hard for me to do crafts with my kids knowing how much time it’s going to take to get the dining room table clean again. Cleaning bits of paper off the floor is not my thing, and it seems that you can NEVER get all of the little pieces cleaned up, no matter how hard you try.
Two Versions of the Valentine’s Day Printable
There are two copies of this printable included in this download.
One copy is for children learning to write with traceable letters. The other copy is for the littles that aren’t writing just yet and has the wording already printed on the page.
Valentine’s Day Craft for Preschoolers
Things you’ll need:
- cardstock or copy paper to print on (we used cardstock)
- red or pink paint for the “flower”
- green paint for the stems and “leaves”
- small paintbrush
- foam paintbrush
- plate or paint tray
You can use whatever type of paint you like, we chose latex craft paint. It’s non-toxic and washes away nicely.
***I have a couple of kids that are allergic to latex. However, latex paint doesn’t seem to affect the palms of their hands as long as we wash up rather quickly. If your child has a latex allergy, you should ask your doctor if latex paint is safe for them.***
Directions
Step 1
I’m assuming you’ve already printed your flower craft template on cardstock. So, go ahead and put a small amount of red or pink paint onto your plate or paint tray.
Step 2
Using the foam brush, dip it into the red or pink paint on your plate. Don’t saturate too heavily. Now, paint the palm and fingers of your child’s hand.
Step 3
Help your child place their hand just above the top of the flower stem. Help them push down onto the paper to make a good print. Then, they’ll need to wash their hand. (You could use wipes, we washed to keep from spreading paint EVERYWHERE.)
Step 4
Now, we’re going to make our little flower buds. Using the foam brush, dip it into a little more paint.
This time, paint the end of your child’s thumb down to the joint. Turn the flower page upside down and at the end of each of the curved stems, angle one thumbprint to the left and one to the right, overlapping at the bottom to make a heart shape. Do this for each of the curved stems.
After this step, you’ll want to wash hands or use a wipe or paper towel again.
Step 5
Time to color the stems and make some leaves. Using the paintbrush, I helped my kiddos get the green paint where it was supposed to be on the stems, but also let them do some of the work themselves. Then, we dipped the tip of their index finger into the green paint and made our dainty little leaves several places of their choosing.
Cleanup took less than five minutes and we had an adorable Valentine’s Day craft to hang for their daddy to see, a keepsake for me, and memories to last a lifetime for all of us.
Want more Valentine’s Day crafts for preschoolers and older kids? Look no further, here’s a round-up of ten of the fastest, and easiest Valentine’s kids’ crafts I could find.
