Easy Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids to Celebrate Love and Creativity

February is here - the season where we celebrate all things love! Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to encourage kids to express their creativity and show love and appreciation for others.

More than just family fun, holiday crafts are a way to engage your kids in exciting and easy Valentine’s Day crafts that promote fine motor skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. Also, who doesn't love receiving something handmade?

Check out our list to discover a variety of Valentine’s Day crafts suitable for different ages and skill levels. Whether you have little kids or older kids, Valentine's Day is the perfect time to grab the tissue paper, glue, glitter, paint, cookie cutters, card stock, and salt dough to create some adorable projects together.

Favorite Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

Here are 5 easy Valentines crafts for kids that are simple and fun. From adorable handprint and footprint art, to construction paper crafts, to scratch art and more, these are 5 simple crafts for kids that are fun for whole family.

1. Salt dough footprint keepsake

You can create adorable handprint and footprint art using paint, paper, and a few simple materials. To make it even easier, grab a kit from KeaBabies like the Baby Handprint and Footprint Keepsake Frame, which contains all of the materials you'll need for this craft - and comes with an adorable picture frame!

If you don't have a keepsake kit, you can make a heartwarming footprint keepsake using salt dough and your baby’s foot. All you need for salt dough projects are flour, salt, and water, making it one of the simplest crafts you can do with items you probably already have on hand!

Combine one cup of salt, 2 cups of flour, and one cup of water. Knead the mixture until it forms a smooth dough. Then you can roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness, and cut into small portions to "stamp" your baby's footprint on. Bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for about 3 hours, and then let it dry and cool completely before painting and decorating. Salt dough projects are a great way to remember your little one's tiny hands and feet, but older kids can enjoy making salt dough crafts too.

2. Clothespin heart

Engage your toddler or older kids in a fun and easy craft using paint, clothespins, and a wire hanger. All you need is to use pliers to bend a wire coat hanger into a heart shape. Then, grab some wooden clothespins and let your little ones paint them in Valentine's colors like red, white, pink, and purple. Once the paint is dry, help them attach the pins to the outside of the hanger, creating a colorful border.

This craft is a hands on way for kids to practice fine motor skills while creating a cute holiday decoration.

3. Accordion arm hearts

You can make so many beautiful paper crafts and collages using inexpensive supplies like tissue paper, construction paper, and glue.

Make a cute and easy Valentine’s Day heart craft using accordion arms and big googly eyes. Your little ones will love this craft idea! All you need is to cut a large heart out of construction paper, cut a few long strips of paper, and fold them accordion-style for the arms (and legs, if your kids want). Glue some googly eyes onto the heart, draw or paint a nose and mouth, and make a face on the heart.

Your child will get a kick out of bouncing their heart character around, watching the accordion arms and legs dangle and bounce.

4. Scratch art

Engage your child in this fun and interactive activity using scratch hearts and wooden sticks. Scratch art is the perfect way for preschoolers and older kids to get creative without getting messy. It's also a fun craft for a parent to join in!

Scratch art paper is available online and at most craft stores. All you have to do is cut a heart shape out of the paper, and then let your child use the wooden stick to scratch the paper to reveal the colors underneath. This is an easy craft to do with any age of kids, and they will delight in how fun it is to create fun squiggles, hearts, faces, and shapes onto the scratch paper.

5. Toilet paper roll painting

Here's a clever way to create an adorable picture you can turn into cards and gifts for Valentine's Day. You only need paint, an empty toilet paper roll, and paper. This craft requires only a few supplies and is easy enough for toddlers and preschoolers to do.

Grab a white piece of paper, an empty toilet paper roll, and some Valentine's colored paints. Bend part of the toilet paper roll to create a heart shape. Help your child dip the end of the roll into paint, and stamp it onto the paper to create a painted heart. You can stamp as many hearts as you want on the paper, and once it dries, you can even cut it out to make Valentine's cards or frame it to display as a festive art piece this month.

Valentine’s Day Craft Ideas for Different Ages

If you're looking for fun, clever Valentine's Day crafts to do with your little ones based on age, check out these ideas.

Valentine’s Day Crafts for Toddlers

Toddlers can enjoy being creative, getting messy, and creating fun projects and gifts for loved ones or to display in your home. With some assistance from a parent, toddlers can make beautiful DIY projects to celebrate this holiday. 

Here are some ideas to do with your toddler:

• Create a simple, fun Valentine’s Day craft using celery and paint! The best ideas are the simple ones, and if you already have celery on hand, why not put it to good use? Squeeze some Valentine's colored paint onto a paper plate, and let your toddler dip the end of a celery stick into the paint to stamp onto a blank piece of paper. The end of the celery looks like a mini heart! This craft is cute and a fun way to use food for crafts for kids!

• Make adorable love bugs using paper and glue. All you need is red and pink paper, some scissors, and glue. Cut out one oval, and two hearts. This will serve as the body and wings of a butterfly. If you want, you can help your child bend pipe cleaners to make antenna. This is such a cute craft for young kids and can even help them work on scissor skills if they are old enough to try safety scissors.

• Engage your toddler in a fun and easy painting activity using Q-tips and heart-shaped paper. Another unique item to paint with is a Q-tip, but these can be really helpful for toddlers just learning how to grasp objects. Create sweet valentines by cutting out a large heart and letting your toddler paint dots with Q-tips all over the heart. You can hang up their art project, or gift it to someone as a Valentines surprise.

Valentine’s Day Crafts for Preschoolers

Many preschoolers exchange Valentines with their friends at school, so why not make some cute homemade art projects to use as gifts or cards? Grab some art supplies, look up an idea or two, and try these DIY valentines projects.

• Create a cute and easy Valentine’s Day craft using buttons and a frame. A personalized frame makes a great gift to display in your house or someone else's! Grab a photo frame and let your child paint it, color it, and add stickers, buttons, or other decorations to the outside. Once it is dry, take a picture of your little one in their special valentines outfit, and insert into the frame. This is a great idea if you want to make a cute project for a family member.

• Make a heart-shaped bird feeder using birdseed and a heart-shaped feeder. This is one of the best crafts to do with preschoolers, and it is good for teaching them a love of nature! You'll need bird seed, Knox gelatin, flour, water, gelatin, corn syrup, heart cookie cutters, oil, twine, straws, wax paper, and a cookie sheet. That might sound like a lot of supplies, but once you start making homemade bird feeders, your child will probably want to make more and more! When the ingredients are mixed together and set to dry in the heart mold overnight, they become a lovely bird feeder that can be hung up outside.

• Engage your preschooler in a fun and educational activity using contact paper and heart-shaped cutouts. Contact paper is good to have on hand when doing crafts for kids. It's easy to use and can be used for a variety of crafts. You can make cute valentines by letting your little ones place colorful scrap paper, stickers, sequins, and glitter on contact paper, sealing it, and then placing the contact paper into a heart-shaped card.

Valentine’s Day Crafts for "Big Kids"

Big kids can still enjoy doing Valentine's Day crafts! Although store bought cards filled with candy and toys may be all the rage, your older kids can enjoy making Valentine's gifts for loved ones.

• Create a beautiful argyle heart wreath using yarn and glue. Grab a plain wreath at a craft store, and get some colored felt and yarn. Make sure you have craft glue or a hot glue gun for this project. Have your kids cut out small hearts out of the felt, and then glue onto the wreath. When the hearts are dry, wrap the yarn around the wreath, winding around over the hearts.

• Make adorable felt flower hearts using felt and glue. This is one of the best crafts for kids to do in just a little time, because you really only need a few supplies: red or pink felt, and craft glue. Your kids can create flower shapes by cutting small hearts out of the felt, and then using four at a time to make a flower shape. You can make as many flowers as you want, and use them to glue onto cards or make a felt bouquet!

• Engage your child in a fun and creative activity using heart-shaped cutouts and a tree-shaped template. Both little kids and big kids can do this craft. Cut a tree base out of brown paper, and then have your kids cut small hearts out of colored paper. The hearts can be glued onto the tree's branches to look like flowers. For big kids, have them write kind words onto the hearts and gift to someone special.

More Easy Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

• Make a cute and easy Valentine’s Day craft using toilet paper rolls and construction paper. You can use a toilet paper roll to serve as the body of a butterfly, and use colorful paper to cut out for the wings, head, and antenna. The best ideas for valentines are the simple ones, and if you have kids, you're likely to have a few empty toilet paper rolls lying around.

• Create a simple and fun Valentine’s Day craft using Elmer’s glue and a few sheets of paper.

• Engage your child in a fun, interactive activity using a free printable and a few basic craft supplies. Online blogs are full of free printables for the holidays. Print out a few and let your children color, paint, and decorate.

• Make dream catchers using wire bent into the shape of a heart and some string. Once the heart is formed, have your child wrap string across the heart over and over until a wavy design appears. Then attach a loop of string at the top, and hang it up wherever they please!

Valentine's Day is a fun time to do crafts as a family.

Valentine's Day crafts for kids don't have to be expensive or complicated. By using supplies from around the house, you and your kids can make adorable art projects together this month!