Valentines Day is just around the corner and this weekend we are focussing on some heart activities which are suitable for doing as a family. First up is our Family Heart Art. I am a sucker for making art as a family and love things that we can display seasonally that mean things to all of us, just take a look at our family art christmas tree to see what I mean.

Family Fingerprint Heart Art

Materials

Canvass (I love the hard board ones for little fingers as they can press as hard as they like without damaging the tension)
Paint – We used red and white acrylic, but any paint works
Paper
Low tack tape

Method

I drew a heart on to a piece of paper and cut it out the size I wanted our fingerprint heart to be. If you want something more precise then print out a heart and cut it out.
Fasten the stencil to the canvas with low tack tape.
Place some red and white paint on to a paper plate or palate
Take turns in dipping finger in and making fingerprints on the canvass.
Allow to dry before removing stencil
Date the canvass

There are some great heart art out there, this valentine heart mosaic is great for younger children who love glueing and sticking as it encourages them to try and keep in the lines or print out this fab activity printable for using in the car if you have to travel. You could brighten up your windows with this lovely heart window collage and use up any heart cut outs you have with this amazing heart window collage at Hands on as we grow.

For those of you with preschoolers here is a great collection of valentine sensory activities and why not improve cutting skills with these broken hearts.

Look for hearts in Nature

This activity was inspired by Dansom Lane who went on a shape walk in their local forest. We are planning on going on a beach walk to see if we can find heart shaped stones to decorate and also look in our local woodland for heart shaped leaves. If the weather is bad, why not take a look round your own home for heart shapes or look and see if you can see heart shaped clouds in the sky.

Acts of Kindness

Why not use this time of year to discuss acts of kindness and the fact that being kind is something that we should all do as much as we can. It makes me think of the song “Love is like a magic penny” which I learned as school. By giving it away you get much, much more in return. Maggie from Red Ted Art has a fab 31 days of love series at the moment, so if you have time why not make something from it to gift to someone.

The boys are taking lollipop flowers in to school for their friends next week. and we have been making heart bookmarks (for their teachers) with our craft pack we received as part of our Bostic Craft Club membership. See more on this tomorrow!

Whist talking about kindness, I adore this hug jar, perfect for moment when we all need a little pick me up. and we will certainly be making a valentines heart happy wall. I am also going to do a heart map with the boys too (and one for myself). A “I love you more than…..” picture would be perfect for loved ones this valentines day too.

Kids Books about love

One of our most favorite books is all about unconditional love. No Matter What by Debi Gliori. It is an emotional hug in a book. Debi manages to use beautiful lyrical words to reaffirm that a mothers love is limitless in such a beautiful way. We were introduced to this book when my mum died, but even now my boys love this book. Other books about love:

I hope your weekend is filled with family,. love and laughter and do let me know what short of things you would like to see featured. Make sure you are following our facebook page, Google + page or on Pinterest for lots of heart crafts and activities over the coming weeks.