These are so much fun to make and were so simple that the boys made them by themselves with only help lifting them in and out of the oven.

How to make salt dough Valentine candle holders

Prepare your dough as per the recipe below.  If you don’t use it all you can store it in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.

Materials & Equipment

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Roll out your dough on a floured surface to around 2cm (3/4 inch) in depth.  Using a cookie cutter cut out your heart shapes.

Dip a tea light into flour before pressing it into the heart shape to make an indentation.  Make sure to wiggle it about a bit to allow for shrinkage when baking.

Smaller children can use their fingers to make an dip for the tealights if they find that easier.

Once you are happy with your salt dough candle holders transfer them carefully to a baking tray and bake in a cool oven as per the recipe.  Allow to cool.

We then painted our salt dough with acrylic paint.  Maxi chose pink, Mini pillar box red and mine were a dark red.

We then allowed them to dry overnight before covering with glitter mixed with PVA glue to seal them and give the holders a sparkle.

Again we let these dry overnight before popping in the tealights.

If you think these look pretty take a look at the beautiful valentine candle holders that Nurturestore made with coloured dough, they are stunning.

Simple glued Bookmark

This bookmark is super easy for children to make.

Materials:

1. Card
2. Decorative paper
3. Heart stencils (we printed out hearts about 3 inch and then 2 inch in size)
4. Glue – we used Bostik All Purpose Glu & Fix Clear Extra Strong Glue

Method

1. Cut out the larger heart in the car and the smaller one in decorative paper (or you could use one of your children drawings)
2. Place the smaller heart on the large one and glue the top two thirds of the hearts together, leaving an opening for page marking.

Felt bookmark

Felt is a great fabric for teaching children to sew as it doesn’t fray.

Materials

1. Felt
2. Heart template
3. Scissors
4. Thread (we used silver)
5. Needle
6. Embellishments
7. Glue – we used Bostik All Purpose Glu & Fix Clear Extra Strong Glue

Method:

1. We decided to use the three inch template from our previous bookmark and with a soft pencil drew around it on to the felt and cut out two hearts.
2. Then placed the right sides of the fabric our (our felt was more glittery on one side.
3. Thread the needle and tie a know in the end of the thread to prevent it coming through the felt.
4. We stitched the sides from around two thirds down in a running stitch.
5. The boys then went though my buttons and embellishments until they found what they wanted (A large white snowflake) and they stuck it on the felt.

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

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

Method

1. 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.
2. Fasten the stencil to the canvas with low tack tape.
3. Place some red and white paint on to a paper plate or palate
4. Take turns in dipping finger in and making fingerprints on the canvass.
5. Allow to dry before removing stencil
6. 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.